Swiss glaciers melted at an above-average rate in 2024 as a blistering hot summer thawed through abundant snowfall, monitoring body GLAMOS said on Tuesday (October 1).
Earlier this year, glaciologists had celebrated above-average winter and spring snow dumps in the Alps, hoping this would signal a halt to years of hefty declines or even a reversal of losses.
But with average August temperatures a few degrees above freezing even at the 3,571 meter high Jungfraujoch station perched above the Aletsch Glacier, scientists measured record ice losses across the country that month.
Overall, they said Swiss glaciers lost 2.5% of their volume this year which was above the average of the past decade.
REUTERS VIDEO