Largest glacier in the Alps lost another 60 metres this summer
The Aletsch has retreated more in five years than in the previous twenty, and the rate is still accelerating
The Aletsch glacier, the largest in the Alps, retreated 60 metres over the summer and lost more than two metres of thickness across its surface, measurements released this month show.
The summer was not exceptional. That is what worries the scientists who take the measurements. “A normal summer now does what a record summer did twenty years ago,” said Dr Matthias Huss of the Swiss glacier monitoring network.
Current models project that the Aletsch will lose most of its volume by the end of the century under all but the most optimistic emissions scenarios.
