The Alps’ iconic glaciers are melting, but there’s still time to save (most of) the biggest

By Matthias Huss | July 15, 2024

Calculated retreat of the Great Aletsch Glacier during the 21st century. Left: current extent. Middle: calculated glacier extent around the year 2100 for a scenario without mitigation of climate change. Right: calculated glacier extent around 2100 for a scenario with strong mitigation of climate change. (Figure modified from Jouvet and Huss, 2019).

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The Alps’ iconic glaciers are melting, but there’s still time to save (most of) the biggest

By Matthias Huss | July 15, 2024

References

Bondesan, A., and Francese, R. G. 2023. “The climate-driven disaster of the Marmolada Glacier (Italy).” June 15. Geomorphology, 431, 108687, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0169555X23001071.

GLAMOS (2023). “Swiss Glacier Mass Balance, release 2023.” Glacier Monitoring Switzerland, doi: https://doi.glamos.ch/data/massbalance_point/massbalance_point_2023_r2023.html

Hugonnet, R., McNabb, R., Berthier, E., Menounos, B., Nuth, C., Girod, L., Farinotti, D., Huss, M., Dussaillant , I., Brun, F. and Kääb, A. 2021. “Accelerated global glacier mass loss in the early twenty-first century.” April 28. Nature, 592(7856), 726-731. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03436-z

Huss, M., Schwyn, U., Bauder, A., and Farinotti, D. 2021a. “Quantifying the overall effect of artificial glacier melt reduction in Switzerland, 2005-2019.” April 2021. Cold Regions Science and Technology, 184, 103237. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coldregions.2021.103237

Jouvet, G., and Huss, M. 2019. “Future retreat of Great Aletsch Glacier.” September 11. Journal of Glaciology, 65(253), 869-872. https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2019.52

Marzeion , B., Cogley, JG, Richter, K., and Parkes, D. 2014. “Attribution of global glacier mass loss to anthropogenic and natural causes.” August 22. Science, 345(6199), 919-921. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1254702

Olefs, M., and Fischer, A. 2008. “Comparative study of technical measures to reduce snow and ice ablation in Alpine glacier ski resorts.” May. Cold regions science and technology, 52(3), 371-384. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coldregions.2007.04.021

Réveillet, M., Dumont, M., Gascoin , S., et al. 2022. “Black carbon and dust alter the response of mountain snow cover under climate change.” September 20. Nature Communications, 13, 5279. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-32501-y

Zemp, M., Huss, M., Thibert, E., Eckert, N., et al. 2019. “Global glacier mass changes and their contributions to sea-level rise from 1961 to 2016.” April 8. Nature, 568(7752), 382-386. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1071-0

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Keywords: ICE, climate change, extreme events, glaciers, monitoring, mountain hazards
Topics: Climate Change, Special Topics

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Matthias Huss

Matthias Huss is a glaciologist and senior scientist at the ETH Zürich, and since 2016 director of the Swiss glacier monitoring network (GLAMOS).... Read More

The Alps’ iconic glaciers are melting, but there’s still time to save (most of) the biggest

The Alps’ iconic glaciers are melting, but there’s still time to save (most of) the biggest

References

Together, we make the world safer.

Matthias Huss

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