'Explosion of melt rates': 20% of Swiss glaciers lost in five years
7 hours ago
- Switzerland has lost almost one-fifth of its glacier ice in just five years, with a 5.5% drop in the first eight months of 2026 alone.
- The total ice loss since 2021 amounts to 19.4%, just shy of the record set in 2022.
- Scientists report that glaciers are collapsing from the inside due to internal streams, accelerating retreat beyond surface melting.
- Europe is warming twice as fast as the global average, with Alpine regions experiencing dramatic changes from fossil fuel pollution.
- The summer of 2026 was the hottest and driest since records began in 1864, contributing to extreme glacier melt.
- Some small glaciers have completely disappeared, leaving behind moonlike rock deserts where ice once stood hundreds of meters thick.