No one can be unaware that last summer was devastating for the world’s glaciers.
We reported previously on the record melt in the Pyrenees. New data from the Glacier Blanc in Pays des Ecrins glacier backs this up.
According to this research, 2022 represented not just the lowest winter snowfall for 23 years, but also the largest summer melt
Glacier Blanc, Écrins Massif, French Alps
1995 | 2022This summer Glacier Blanc has lost 3.40 metres of ice over its entire surface (average of 1.10 metres over the last ten years). At 2900 m asl, 10cm of ice melted daily, even at night!
Credit @PnEcrins @bastamedia_ pic.twitter.com/JNEnDZuVLX— Melaine Le Roy (@subfossilguy) November 8, 2022
5 metres of ice lost in two months
The measurements showed an average ice melt of 8cm per day at an altitude of 2900m i.e. almost 5m in thickness lost in two months.
Over the entire summer season, melting was almost twice as high as the average over the 22-year period from 2000-2022.
Glacier could disappear in 30 years
According to data gathered on 20 September this year, the glacier has lost four times more mass than the average of the previous 23 years.
17 million m³ of ice were lost in a single year. At this rate, it could disappear entirely within thirty years.
