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melting

Swiss Glaciers Have Lost 10% Of Their Volume In The Last Two Years

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Swiss glaciers have lost 10% of their volume in two years, a report has found. The analysis from the Swiss Academy of Sciences have credited climate change as the reasoning behind the accelerated melting. 

The scientists have claimed that the burning of fossil fuels is the main cause of the unusually hot summers and winters with low snow levels that we’ve experienced in recent years. The overall hotter temperatures have led to glaciers all over the world experiencing accelerated melting. 

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According to the report, the volume lost in the Swiss glaciers between the summers of 2022 and 2023 equates to the volume lost between 1960 and 1990. 

The analysis also found that 4% of Switzerland’s total glacier volume disappeared last year, which marks the second biggest annual decline on record. The largest decline on record was in 2022 with a 6% drop. 

Experts have also stopped measuring certain glaciers and the amount of ice it’s lost due to the fact that their decline has been so rapid. Glacier Monitoring in Switzerland (Glamos), which keeps track of 176 glaciers, just recently stopped recording data for the St. Annafirn glacier in the central Swiss canton of Uri due to the fact that it’s mostly melted at this point. 

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Matthias Huss, the head of Glamos, stated:

“We just had some dead ice left. It’s a combination of climate change that makes such extreme events more likely, and the very bad combination of meteorological extremes. If we continue at this rate … we will see every year such bad years.” 

Small glaciers are disappearing from ice loss, and in order to stop these glaciers from melting, carbon emissions and the burning of fossil fuels must be halted. However, Huss stated that even if the world managed to “keep warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre industrial levels,” only one third of the glacier volume in Switzerland will remain. 

“All the small glaciers will be gone anyway, and the big glaciers will be much smaller. There will be some ice in the highest regions of the Alps and some glaciers that we can show to our grandchildren,” Huss stated.

Iceberg

Earth Lost 28 Trillion Tons Of Ice In Less Than 30 Years Due To Climate Change 

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Scientists working at Leeds and Edinburgh Universities and the University College London recently released a review paper that revealed data taken from surveys of the world’s glaciers, mountains, and ice sheets between the years 1994 and 2017. The information revealed a “staggering” loss in ice throughout the Earth’s many natural ice formations. 

Professor Andy Shepherd is the director of Leeds University’s Center for Polar Observation and Modeling, and recently spoke with the press about this dramatic loss in ice, and rising in sea levels as a result. 

“Melting glaciers and ice sheets could cause sea levels to rise dramatically, possibly reaching 3 feet by the end of the century.”

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The loss in ice is the least of scientists worries, it’s more about the direct, and indirect, effects of that melting that could have a detrimental impact on the planet and its billions of inhabitants. One of the biggest concerns is a major disruption in biological health within the waters of the Arctic and Antarctica. Loss in health in these waters specifically can reduce Earth’s overall ability to reflect solar radiation back into space so it doesn’t heat the planet too much. 

These findings perfectly match up with the “worst-case-scenario” predictions that the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change outlined. According to Shepherd this is the first time anyone has looked at all the ice that has/is disappearing from the planet; previously studies would only map large cool areas such as Greenland or the Arctic exclusively. 

“This is the first time anyone has looked at all the ice that is disappearing from the entire planet. What we have found has stunned us.”

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Shepherd went on in the report itself to state that there is “little doubt” that the vast majority of this ice loss is a direct result of climate change. The report was released one week after scientists working at Ohio State University discovered that the ice sheet covering Greenland may have “passed the point of no return” in regards to how melted it is. 

The Greenland melting is due to a lack in annual snowfall; which is also a result of global warming. The rate at which it snows every year in Greenland isn’t enough to keep up with the pace at which the ice is melting throughout the rest of the year. This means that Greenland’s ice sheet will keep melting and losing ice even if climate change is somehow reversed in the next few years. 

Scientists are worried about Greenland specifically because its ice sheet is considered the world’s second-largest body of water, therefore if it melts, sea levels will rise to an unfathomable level. According to a NASA study 2010-2019 was the hottest decade ever recorded on Earth; which isn’t a shock to most, but the results are now starting to come to life. 

This is why the election in November is so important, as climate change has been a major point of contention among Republicans and Democrats since the term “global warming” was initially created. If you’re a US resident and have yet to register, or aren’t sure where you’re specifically registered, you can check that status here.

Polar Bears

A Village In Russia Is Being Invaded By Polar Bears

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The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has put out an official warning for the town of Ryrkaypiy, Russia stating that villagers need to be on constant high alert for polar bears, as it seems a large number of them have begun migrating south towards the town in an attempt to reach a colder climate. The WWF states that there can be upwards of 50+ bears roaming around the shores looking for food; the shores border the village.

Groups of police officers around the town have been assigned “Polar Bear Patrol.” According to the BBC, patrolmen have been posted all around the village’s border keeping an eye out for any wandering hungry bears, as well as standing guard near all schools in the town’s district to ensure every child’s safety. Additionally, police have enforced special buses to take children to and from school to make sure none of them are walking home alone and vulnerable. 

The “bear invasion” is causing major terror in the Chutkotka region of Russia, so much so that all public events in the area have been cancelled indefinitely until they can gain further control over the situation. So far, police doing their daily border inspections have counted 56 bears conglomerating near the shores of Ryrkaypiy (BBC).

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Conservationists and workers for the WWF alike are blaming climate change for the sudden migration. Typically, these bears live on Cape Schmidt, an area that’s less than 2 miles away from Ryrkaypiy; however, within the past few years there’s been more and more polar bear sightings in the village, this year being the largest group of bears yet. The Cape is typically an amazing source of food for the polar bears, but climate change has caused the area to become a lot warmer, weakening the coastal ice which removes a large area where the bears hunt for food. As a result of this, the bears travelled further along the coast to search for a colder area with a more vast food supply, thus the Ryrkaypiy invasion. 

“The animals are both adults and young there are females with cubs of different ages. Almost all of them appear to be abnormally thin,” said Tatyana Minenko, head of Ryrkaypiy’s bear patrol program.

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Minenko also mentioned how quickly this problem has progressed for the village, emphasizing that just five years ago the bear patrol team only had to deal with about five bears getting close to the village. The fact that the number has multiplied by ten within such a short span of time worries experts in the WWF and police, so much so that specialists feel the village should be completely evacuated. At the rate that the polar bear numbers are increasing, experts are worried about what the state of the village will be in another five years. However, the 700+ Ryrkaypiy residents are standing their ground, at least for now. 

“If the ice were strong enough the bears, or at least some of them, would have already gone to sea, where they could hunt for seals or sea hares,” said WWF conservationist Mikhail Stishov.

“I as a scientist believe [Ryrkaypiy village] should not remain there,” he said. “We try to control the situation, but nobody would want to think what may happen there in three to five years,” said Anatoly Kochnev, polar bear specialist from the Institute of Biological Problems of the North.

Scientists and the WWF have made it clear to residents that if they wish to relocate their village they could “organize a referendum” to establish a general consensus, and decide as a democracy the easiest way to relocate. For now though, it seems as though villagers aren’t budging on leaving their homes, so the situation continues to be closely monitored.