Rhone Glacier and Trient Glacier in Switzerland before and after melt caused by global warming. Photo: ReutersRhone Glacier and Trient Glacier in Switzerland before and after melt caused by global warming. Photo: Reuters

New photos vs old: comparisons show dramatic Swiss glacier retreat – “We have never seen such a fast rate of glacial decline since the measurements have started”

By Denis Balibouse 25 November 2019 THE FURKA PASS, Switzerland (Reuters) – On the hairpin bend of a Swiss mountain pass, a Victorian-era hotel built for tourists to admire the Rhone Glacier has been abandoned now that the ice has retreated nearly 2 km (1.2 miles) uphill. Where mighty glaciers once spilled into Swiss valleys […]

Aerial views of glaciers in Iceland taken in 1989 and 2019 showing how much ice has been lost over this 30-year period. Photo: National Land Survey of Iceland / Kieran Baxter

Images reveal Iceland’s glacier melt – “We saw a staggering difference in a very short amount of time”

By Rebecca Morelle 25 October 2019 (BBC News) – A photography project has highlighted the extent of ice loss from Iceland’s glaciers. A team from Scotland and Iceland compared photographs taken in the 1980s with present-day drone images. They focused on the south side of the Vatnajökull ice cap, which covers about 7,700sq km of […]

A mourner, dressed in black, stands in the Swiss Alps where the Pizol glacier once existed. The “funeral march” was held on 22 September 2019 to mark the disappearance of the Pizol glacier. Photo: Fabrice Coffrini

Swiss glacier volume reduced by 10 per cent in only five years – More than 500 small glaciers have vanished – Over the past 12 months, two percent of total Swiss glacier volume lost

15 October 2019 (Swiss Academy of Sciences) – During the summer heatwaves of 2019, glacier melt rates reached record levels. This led to another year of major losses of ice volume, as reported by the Cryospheric Commission of the Swiss Academy of Sciences. Switzerland’s glaciers have thus shrunk by 10 per cent over the past […]

A woman walks past a window reflecting a thermometer showing a temperature of 41 degrees Celsius on 25 July 2019, in Paris, as a new heatwave hits the French capital. Photo: Dominique Faget / AFP / Getty Images

All-time heat records melt in Europe – Paris warmer than Singapore at 42.6°C (108.7°F) – National records broken on Wednesday fell again on Thursday – “‘If you’d have said five years ago we’d see temperature records fall this frequently, I wouldn’t have believed you”

By William Wilkes and Megan Durisin 24 July 2019 (Bloomberg) – Europe’s latest summer heatwave broke heat records just weeks after the continent had its hottest ever June, fueling concern that a shifting climate is triggering more extreme weather. Germany probably set a new all-time temperature record of 42.6 degrees Celsius (108.7 Fahrenheit) in the […]

Winds carry microplastics “anywhere and everywhere”, even to remote mountaintops – “It’s astounding and worrying that so many particles were found in the Pyrenees”

By Damian Carrington 15 April 2019 (The Guardian) – Microplastic is raining down on even remote mountaintops, a new study has revealed, with winds having the capacity to carry the pollution “anywhere and everywhere”. The scientists were astounded by the quantities of microplastic falling from the sky in a supposedly pristine place such as the […]

Flooding in Venice and deadly storms across Italy – Record October heat on one side of Switzerland followed by record October snow on the other

By Bob Henson 30 October 2018 (Weather Underground) – An exceptionally strong upper-level storm and low-pressure center has played havoc this week with the weather across large parts of Europe, especially Italy, where high winds, intense thunderstorms, and a landslide caused at least 11 deaths. Most of the fatalities were from falling trees as a […]

Melting ice uncovers 1946 wreckage of U.S. plane in Swiss glacier

By Palko Karasz 16 August 2018 LONDON (The New York Times) – After an emergency landing on a Swiss glacier, the group of 12 Americans drank melted snow and survived on rations of one chocolate bar a person until daring pilots shuttled them to safety after five days marooned on the ice.Relics of that harrowing […]

Graph of the Day: Decline of snow making days at high altitudes in Germany and Austria

ABSTRACT: Ski resorts increasingly rely on snow making to ensure good quality skiing regardless of the variability of the natural snow cover. This study aims to quantify past changes in snow making conditions based on an analysis of long-term wet bulb temperature time series from 20 weather stations in Germany and Austria. The weather stations […]

Increase of plant species on mountain tops is accelerating with global warming

By Peter F. Gammelby 4 April 2018 (Aarhus University) – It is not as lonely at the top as it used to be. At least not for plants which, due to global warming, are increasingly finding habitats on mountain tops that were formerly reserved for only the toughest and most hardy species. A large international […]

Global warming: the risk of frost worsens at altitude – “The risk of frost exposure has increased at the vast majority of stations located at elevations higher than 800 meters”

28 September 2017 (Université de Neuchâtel) – [Translation by Google.] Trees growing above 800 m are increasingly exposed to spring frost, the Neuchâtel University, the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL and SLF), and Agroscope Conthey reveal in a joint study a paradoxical consequence of global warming, which increases the vulnerability […]

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