Germany lost one of its glaciers – news from Debrecen, news from Debrecen | Debrecen and Hajdú-Bihar county news
Germany lost one of its glaciers
Berlin – This summer, Germany lost one of its remaining glaciers, the southern branch of the Schneeferner.
According to a statement from the Bavarian Academy of Sciences on Monday, the southern Schneeferner has lost its glacier status due to rapid melting. “The thickness of the Schneeferner’s ice has decreased significantly, and most of it is no longer even two meters thick, and it is certain that it is no longer moving,” the academy wrote in
Even the thickest patch has decreased to less than six meters, although in 2018 it even reached ten meters. In the period between 2018-2022, the surface of the glacier also shrunk by half, currently it is one hectare. According to the academy’s forecast, the remaining ice is expected to melt completely within a year or two.
The academy has been carrying out regular measurements on the glacier since 1892, these are now coming to an end.
The disappearance of the southern Schneeferner means that only four glaciers remain in Germany: the Höllentalferner from the Zugspitz and the northern line of the Schneeferner, and the Blaueis and Watzmann glaciers in the Berchtesgaden Alps.
The rapid melting of glaciers observed in the Alps and other mountain ranges, attributed to the effect of climate change, has been monitored since the beginning of the 2000s. In a report last year, the Bavarian Ministry of the Environment reported that Germany may lose its last glaciers this decade due to climate change.
Scientists previously estimated that the glaciers could disappear by the middle of the century.
A global study published in April 2021 found that nearly all of the world’s glaciers are losing mass at an increasing rate, accounting for more than 20 percent of sea-level rise this century.