Swiss glaciers lose second-largest ice volume on record this year

Switzerland's glaciers have lost about 5.5 percent of their total ice volume this year, the second-largest annual decline on record. This was stated in a report released Thursday by GLAMOS, the Swiss glacier monitoring service, and the Swiss Academy of Sciences.

According to the report, heatwaves and low winter snowfall were the main causes of the loss. In just the past five years alone, the country's glacier ice has shrunk by nearly a fifth. Experts say the pace of ice melt has accelerated further in recent years. Switzerland has the largest number of glaciers in the Alps.

GLAMOS head and glaciology professor Matthias Huss warned that under such conditions, the Alps' glaciers cannot survive for long. He said the current rise in temperature is entirely the result of human-driven climate change, and that without human emissions and fossil fuel use, such a temperature rise would not have occurred.

He said insufficient winter snowfall is of particular concern for glaciers, since snow protects old ice from melting. The report has heightened concern further, as Europe is the fastest-warming continent in the world.