Glaciers are rapidly melting in Switzerland

This aerial photo taken at the end of June 2022 shows the Rhone glacier ending in a lake of its own meltwater. According to the Swiss Academy of Sciences (SCNAT), Swiss glaciers have lost more than 6% of their ice volume this year - more than ever before. By comparison, years with 2% ice loss had previously been described as "extreme."

Hikers cross the Tsanfleuron Pass in September 2022, which had previously been buried under ice for at least 2,000 years. 10 years ago, the ice layer here still measured 15 meters. The reasons for glacier melt in Switzerland are manifold: Among other things, little snow in winter, and persistent heat waves in summer, ensured that all records were broken.

After the low winter precipitation, large amounts of Saharan dust intensified the melting effect from March to May this year - here, Mount Brisen is shrouded in a yellow haze. The polluted snow absorbed more of the sun's rays, causing the glaciers to lose their protective layer of snow earlier. "It was a drama in the making," SCNAT said.

Matthias Huss (right), glaciologist and head of the Swiss Glacier Monitoring Network, sets measuring poles on the Pers glacier together with colleagues. The network has studied 20 glaciers this summer - with alarming results: Three cubic kilometers of ice have been lost since the beginning of the year. "In the best case, a third of the glacier ice can be saved," Huss told the AFP news agency.

Between awe and ambition: In view of the glacier melt, hikes like this one on the Gries glacier could soon be a thing of the past. If the target set in the Paris climate agreement to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees is missed, glaciers in the Alps will have largely disappeared by 2100.

Tourists visit an ice cave in the Rhone Glacier, which has lost an average of five meters per year in volume over the past 10 years. The ice, some of which is thousands of years old, forms archives for preserved animal and plant remains that are the best indicators of medium- and long-term shifts in the context of global climate change.

The end of the Rhone Glacier is the beginning of the 807-kilometer-long (501 miles) Rhone River. During the summer heat waves, the river, which flows 246 kilometers through Switzerland and 543 kilometers through France, dried up completely in some places. In September, when the river filled up again after rainfall, the water was too warm to cool the French nuclear power plants along its banks.

Workers cover leftover snow from last winter with sheets at the Glacier 3000 ski resort to counteract melting. The ice layer stabilizes the mountains: When the glaciers retreat, rockfalls, rock slides or mudslides can increase. More and more, authorities are closing parts of the alpine landscape to mountaineers and hikers.

The dangers to glaciers from global warming have been known for some time: Here, activists hold a symbolic mourning ceremony for the Pizol Glacier in 2019. Three years later, their grim vision has become reality: The Pizol Glacier has practically disappeared. Other smaller glaciers such as the Vadret dal Corvatsch and the Schwarzbachfirn have also melted away.