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GLACIER

WATCH: 3D models show how climate change could shrink Swiss Aletsch glacier

What will Switzerland’s majestic Aletsch Glacier look like in the year 2100 in the face of climate change?

WATCH: 3D models show how climate change could shrink Swiss Aletsch glacier
The Aletsch Glacier is a popular tourist destination. Photo: AFP

That is what scientists at Zurich’s ETH technical university recently set out to discover, and the results do not make for happy reading.

According to the projections, the absolute best-case scenario is that the 23-kilometre long glacier – the largest in the Alps – will lose 'only’ half of its ice volume and length by the end of this century.

But that will only happen if global warming is keep below 2C and there is a huge reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2040.

“Even in this case, we have to assume that the Aletsch Glacier will keep retreating until the end of the century,” said study co-author Guillaume Jouvet from the ETH’s Laboratory of Hydraulics, Hydrology and Glaciology in comments on the university's website.

This is because large glaciers react slowly to climate change.

Together with fellow team member Matthias Huss, Jouvet created 3D computer models of the complex Aletsch Glacier system in a bid to see what different levels of climate change would mean.

In the extreme example of a 4–8C rise in Swiss temperatures, the glacier would be all but gone by 2100, the study published in the Journal of Glaciology shows.

It also suggests that even if the Swiss climate were to hypothetically remain as it has been for the last 30 years, the Aletsch would still lose more than a third of its volume by the end of the century.

On the other hand, if the climate of the last ten years is taken as a reference point, more than 50 percent of the glacier would disappear.

READ ALSO: Swiss group plans farewell for 'dead' Pizol Glacier

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WEATHER

Denmark strikes new record for most rain in a year

Denmark on Wednesday struck a new record for the total annual precitipation, meteorologists said, noting that further increases in annual rain and snowfall could be expected in future years as a result of climate change.

Denmark strikes new record for most rain in a year

The annual tally of snow and rainfall as of Wednesday was over 907 millimeters (35.7 inches), national meteorological institute DMI said with over a week left in the year.

The previous record since measurements started in 1874 was 905mm, a level reached in 1999 and 2019.

On average, the Scandinavian country sees around 760mm of precipitation annually, but this could increase.

“The warming from anthropogenic climate change gradually also leads to increased precipitation in Denmark,” Rasmus Anker Pedersen, a climate scientist at DMI, told AFP.

According to Pedersen, by the end of the century, annual precipitation is expected to increase by seven percent.

“The change is not uniform over the year — we do not expect a substantial change in the summer precipitation amounts, while the winter precipitation will increase by 12 percent.

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