The Alps' iconic glaciers are melting, but there's still time to save the biggest


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Author / Producer

Date

2024

Publication Type

Journal Article

ETH Bibliography

yes

Citations

Altmetric

Data

Abstract

Glaciers are the ambassadors of climate change. Their worldwide decline has serious impacts on natural hazards, the water cycle, and sea level rise. The monitoring of glaciers documents the increasingly rapid melting, which has culminated in a suite of extreme years-for example, 2023 in North America and the European Alps. Numerical simulations of future glacier change, supported by a large basis of observational data, allow us to understand the enormous changes ahead and prepare us for a world without glaciers. Technical approaches to reduce glacier melting have been developed and are applicable locally-for example, in connection with tourist activities-but they clearly fail at the larger scale.

Publication status

published

Editor

Book title

Volume

80 (4)

Pages / Article No.

225 - 229

Publisher

Routledge

Event

Edition / version

Methods

Software

Geographic location

Date collected

Date created

Subject

Glaciers; ice; climate change; mountain hazards; monitoring; extreme events

Organisational unit

09599 - Farinotti, Daniel / Farinotti, Daniel check_circle

Notes

Funding

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