Photos of Shrinking Glacier Go Viral
7th August 2024
Last modified on August 10th, 2024
The images were taken 15 years apart at the Rhone glacier in Switzerland and show the extent of glacier melt in the Alps.
The photos show the impact of climate change and the speed at which glaciers are melting.
A British couple, Duncan and Helen Porter, posed at the same spot by the Rhône glacier in August 2009 and August 2024.
They returned to the same spot with their teenage daughters, Maisie and Emily.
In the photo from 2009, the ice completely fills the background.
However, in 2024, the ice has disappeared in places.
Fifteen years minus one day between these photos. Taken at the Rhone glacier in Switzerland today.
Not gonna lie, it made me cry. pic.twitter.com/Inz6uO1kum
— Duncan Porter (@misterduncan) August 4, 2024
Many users on X reacted in shock to the visible change in the glacier, with the post being viewed 4.4 million times as of Wednesday 7th August.
Switzerland has the most glaciers of any country in Europe.
In the past two years, 10% of the country’s glaciers ice volume has disappeared as a result of low snowfall and rising temperatures, according to data from the Swiss Academy of Sciences.
Earlier this summer there were some hopeful, if temporary, signs of a slight improvement.
The Swiss Glacier Monitoring Network, Glamos, said that this year’s weather has been a blessing for its glaciers. At the end of April 2024 there was 31% more snow on all of Switzerland’s 1,400 glaciers than the average for the years 2010 to 2020.
Since the measurements were taken the condition of the glaciers and the snow depths have improved even further.
The glacier melt in 2024 is likely to be lower than in the two previous years.
Based on @glamos_ch measurements combined with modelling we infer the daily-scale mass change of Swiss glaciers. The entire winter was much better than the 2010-2020 average.@VAW_glaciology @WSL_research pic.twitter.com/jPARlZm0Qn
— Matthias Huss (@matthias_huss) June 4, 2024
Despite the slight improvement earlier this summer the overall picture is a gloomy one with predictions of many glaciers totally melting by the end of the 21st century.
The melting of the glaciers in Switzerland, and elsewhere in the Alps is a subject we have been following closely in recent years on PlanetSKI:
- Swiss glaciers lose 10% of volume in past 2 years
- Austrian Alpine Club calls for urgent action to protect glaciers
- Threat to Italian glaciers increases
- Austrian glaciers likely to melt by end of the century
- Covering glaciers: An expensive way of preventing the ice melting
Mont Fort glacier, Verbier. Image © PlanetSKI
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