In just ten years, melting glaciers in the Alps have led to the formation of more than 180 new glacial lakes in Switzerland, according to AFP and DPA.
Between 2006 and 2016, the area covered by water increased by about 150,000 square meters (15 hectares) per year – “visible evidence of climate change in the Alps”, the Swiss Federal Institute of Water and Water Resources (Eawag) announced today.
For the first time, the institute makes an inventory of all glacial lakes formed by the end of the so-called A small ice age in the mid-19th century.
Around 1850, alpine glaciers reached their “apogee” in modern times. Between 1850 and 2016, the area of glacial lakes increased by an average of about 40,000 square meters (4 hectares) per year, according to study co-author Nico Molg. A strong upward trend was reported in the last years of the study – from 2006 to 2016.
The list includes a total of 1,200 new lakes, 187 of which were formed in the last decade of the study. In 2016, the area of all existing glacial lakes was about 620 hectares.
“On the one hand, we were surprised by their huge number, and on the other – by their significantly accelerated formation,” said project manager Daniel Odermat.
To carry out their research, scientists have analyzed data from the mid-19th century, as well as aerial photographs taken from the mid-20th century.
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