Incredible: here’s how Switzerland’s glaciers melted away between 1931 and 2016

They are incredible images. Scientists from ETH Zurich and the Swiss Federal Institute  for Forest, Snow and  Landscape Research (WSL) reconstructed for the first time the melting of glaciers throughout the 20th century across all of Switzerland. The researchers used historical imagery to do this. ETH Zurich stated in a press release that they came to the conclusion that the volume of glaciers fell by half between 1931 and 2016.

Photo: View of the Fiescher Glacier as seen from the Märjelen Alps (© swisstopo and VAW / ETH Zurich)

In an article just published in the professional journal The Cryosphere, a team of researchers from ETH Zurich and the WSL reconstructed the topography of all Swiss glaciers as they were in the year 1931. Based on these reconstructions and comparisons with data from the 2000s, the researchers came to the conclusion that the volume of these glaciers has dropped by half between the years 1931 and 2016.

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Click here for the full press release and photos.

Photo: The Gornerglacier and the Monte Rosa area as seen from the Schwarzsee (© swisstopo and VAW / ETH Zurich)