Swiss glacier watcher warns recent heat wave threatens severe melt again, after record 2022
CTV
A top glacier watcher has warned that a warm early summer combined with a heat wave last week may have caused severe glacier melt in Switzerland, threatening to make 2023 its second-worst year for ice loss after a record thaw last year.
A top glacier watcher has warned that a warm early summer combined with a heat wave last week may have caused severe glacier melt in Switzerland, threatening to make 2023 its second-worst year for ice loss after a record thaw last year.
Matthias Huss of the GLAMOS glacier monitoring center said full data won't be in until late September and a precipitous drop in temperatures and high-altitude snowfall in recent days could help stem any more damage.
But early signs based on readings from five sites and modeling results across Switzerland suggest considerable damage may already be done.
"We can definitely say that we had very high melting in Switzerland and in Europe in general because the temperatures, they were extremely high for a long time -- a more than one week heat wave," Huss said in an interview this week.
Swiss meteorologists reported last week that the zero-degree Celsius level had risen to its highest altitude since recordings on it in Switzerland began nearly 70 years ago -- meaning that all of the Alpine country's mountains faced temperatures above freezing.
The late-summer heat wave was particularly harmful to glaciers this year because high temperatures earlier in the summer had already melted nearly all of the protective snow cover, which meant that "almost all glacier ice was kind of naked," Huss said.
A blanket of white snow cover has a crucial effect in protecting glaciers by reflecting energy from sunlight back upward, a process known as the albedo effect.
Across the southern U.S., millions of residents woke up Friday to a rare chance to bust out the mittens and snow pants thanks to a cold snap that dumped snow in their backyards.
On Friday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on TikTok’s legal challenge to the law, which the company claims violates its First Amendment rights and those of its 170 million American users
A Canadian teen is reaching audiences around the world with powerful social media videos showing life without hands and feet – the price she paid after developing sepsis.
A New Brunswick nurse is ‘set for life’ after winning a $675,000 lottery prize last month.
Firefighters hoped for a break Friday from fierce winds that have fueled massive blazes in the Los Angeles area, killing 10 people, obliterating whole neighborhoods and setting the nation's second-largest city on edge.
A Manitoba researcher was part of a historic research team that uncovered the oldest ice core ever retrieved.
BC Children’s Hospital says a 13-year-old girl with avian flu was discharged Tuesday after weeks in hospital.
In 1978, President Carter signed into law a bill that legalized homebrewing. Like most inventions, this new style of ale didn't stay inside garages for long.
Automakers pulled out all the stops to showcase their latest advances for in-vehicle experiences at CES, the Consumer Technology Association’s annual trade show of all things tech, in Las Vegas this week.
A series of wildfires are searing through the Los Angeles area, forcing many to evacuate their homes. Here's everything that happened throughout Jan. 8.
Meta’s plans to ditch fact-checking on Instagram and Facebook is stirring up quite the debate.
Two workers at a state-run hospital in West Virginia have been charged in connection with the death of a 61-year-old non-verbal man who investigators said was left in a scalding hot bath for nearly an hour.
Budget-conscious buyers looking for luxury alternatives have flocked to Walmart's Birkin bag look-alike, nicknamed the 'Wirkin.'
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said on Tuesday it has opened a probe into 2.6 million Tesla vehicles in the United States over reports of crashes involving a feature that allows users to move their cars remotely.
California firefighters battled wind-whipped wildfires that tore across the Los Angeles area, destroying homes, clogging roadways as tens of thousands fled and straining resources as the fires burned uncontained early Wednesday.
Lake Naivasha, northwest of Nairobi, Kenya is becoming increasingly unnavigable. Water hyacinth, the world's most widespread invasive species, is blanketing the lake, choking its fish and leaving people stranded.
Drinking coffee has repeatedly been linked with better heart health and prolonged life. But the benefits of coffee consumption could depend on when you drink it, new research has found.
On one of the most challenging days of Hannah White’s life, she found peace in the generosity and determination of several Delta Air Lines employees who went to great lengths to ensure that she was able to spend another precious 24 hours with her mom.