#glacier-melt

#glacier-melt

The Swiss Glacier Monitoring Network (GLAMOS) is reporting an average snow deficit of 25%, compared to averages from 2010-2020, partly due to a warm and dry month of April this season. Specifically, the regions of Upper Valais, Ticino, and Graubünden are seeing a drastic deficit heading into the summer melt months. Consequently, the protective snow layer is depleting so rapidly, it could be a matter of just weeks before debris and bare ice are exposed, leading to an inevitable accelerated glacier melt and retreat.

During a rare break in the weather, the NYT says helicopters airlifted the researchers and their equipment 19 miles to their planned outpost site on top of the glacier. The two helicopters involved flew a dozen total loads of cargo from the icebreaker ship to the camp site, while glacial scientists and engineers erected a small tent city, complete with bathrooms, generators, and a mess hall.

"What do you think would look better: pink or green?" The bubblegum hue won. A scientist from the Swiss public university ETH Zurich nodded, pulling out a bottle of pink dye to release from the top of the Rhone Glacier in the Swiss Alps. Turning the rivulet flowing down a melting glacier into a bright-pink stream was the least scientific test carried out this day.