New landscapes as the Alpine glaciers disappear

Arabia Weather - In pockets of the Alps in Europe, glaciers are widespread enough to supply ski resorts with the necessary snow.

Ski lifts, resorts, cabins and huts dot this decades-old landscape. However, glaciers are one of the first and most visible victims of human-induced climate change.

Glaciers are the first victims of climate change

With these glaciers shrinking at an alarming rate, the future of mountain ecosystems and the people who enjoy mountain regions will be distinctly different.

The glaciers - the product of centuries of accumulation of compacted snow and ice - will disappear with astonishing speed.

Rivers are losing a large proportion of their water due to climate change

The 10 percent loss of glaciers in Switzerland since 2021 is a clear indicator of the region's vulnerability to climate change. Some glaciers are expected to disappear completely in the next few years, reflecting the scale of environmental damage caused by rising temperatures.

The Frigerwerner River in Austria is melting rapidly, as parts of the glacier break off and hollow out as warm air flows through its base. This exacerbates the melting phenomenon.

The Geiskarwerner, which is a major glacier in the ski resort, is gradually losing its connection with the rest of the snow and ice by isolating parts of the glacier and protecting them from the sun during the summer. However, the impact of the losses appears to go beyond the immediate impact on the ski season, pointing to broader environmental challenges.

But the losses go beyond the shorter ski season and the mass of the glaciers.

Andrea Fischer, a glaciologist at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, noted that the rate of glacier loss could be an important indicator of the state of the climate on both a regional and global scale. This rate can indicate the extent of vulnerability to climate change and contribute to monitoring and understanding the necessity of confronting climate change and reducing global warming caused by human activities.

“The loss of glaciers is not the most dangerous aspect of climate change,” Fisher continued. “Rather, the biggest challenge of climate change is its impact on ecosystems and increased natural hazards, and these processes are much more complex and more difficult to monitor and understand. Glaciers represent only "An indicator that helps us understand how climate change and its impacts."

A view from a light aircraft in the mountains clearly reflects the tangible effects of climate change as glaciers shrink and bare rock appears in their places. This underscores the importance of taking serious action to address climate change and preserve the environment and mountain landscapes. The halting of the melting ice shows that immediate reductions in emissions are not enough to save these glaciers from disappearing or shrinking in the near future.

The warning about melting glaciers indicates that attention and concern alone are not enough, and stresses the importance of taking effective action to confront climate change. Awareness of environmental and climate challenges should be the beginning of a move towards designing a sustainable future in which emissions and negative environmental impacts can be reduced.

Source: skynewsarabia