After the catastrophic glacial assessments of the last two years, the measurements at the end of winter were positive, reports the Swiss glacier measurement network Glamos. The fourteen Alpine glaciers studied have significantly thicker snow cover, with a surplus of between 12 and 60% compared to the 2010-2020 reference period.
With this beautiful “cushion of snow” formed in recent months, spring 2024 is starting under more positive auspices, after the little snowy winters of 2021/2022 (-30%) and 2022/2023 (-20%). According to MeteoNews, “we can expect the mass loss to be less significant this year than in the previous two years.”
The glaciers of Ticino (Basodino) and Engadine (Murtel or Pers) have snow conditions well above average. In some cases, records were reached. There is also much more snow on the glaciers in the far west (Tsanfleuron or Plaine Morte) and on the northern ridge of the Alps (Clariden). The situation is also above average in the south of Valais (Findelen or Allalin) and in the Central Swiss Alps (Aletsch or Rhône), notes the meteorological agency.
Extrapolated to around 1,400 Swiss glaciers, the average snow surplus of 31% compared to the reference period corresponds to the second highest value in the last two decades, just behind 2019. As there is no complete data before 2005 , it is however impossible to make comparisons over a long period, specifies MeteoNews.
If over the years, the excess snow gradually transforms into glacier ice, there is no reason to claim victory. “This layer will melt, but it will be able to protect the glaciers for up to 15 to 30 additional days, depending on future temperatures. These days, they are still fresh, it’s good to take, comments Vincent Devantay, meteorologist at MeteoNews. It’s a short-term respite for the glaciers, but not part of a trend at all. To do this, these measures would need to be confirmed over the next five or ten years.”
In 2022, three cubic kilometers of ice will be lost, or 6% of the total volume of Swiss glaciers. That year, the World Meteorological Organization estimated that our country would lose 95% of its glacial mass by the end of the century.
