Scientists are alarmed by what is happening in the Alps

Swiss environmentalists have discovered that trees are beginning to grow on the snow-capped peaks of the Alps. This happens even in places where there was snow all year round.

The mountains are known to heat up faster. Greening has been recorded in the Arctic for a long time, so it was logical to predict similar phenomena in the mountains. But scientists did not expect it to happen so fast in the Alps.

The authors of the study analyzed mountain imagery from space satellites from 1984 to 2021. Forests, glaciers and areas below 1700 meters above sea level were excluded from the study to exclude agricultural land in the mountains.

According to the data analysis, in the summer the snow cover disappears completely in 10% of the area under consideration.

Experts explain: this process of landscaping will become a vicious circle. Climate change and global warming are leading to snow melting and replacing it with fertile moist soil. Due to the heat and frequent rains, the forests are getting thicker and bigger. And plant species are starting to climb higher in the mountains.

In terms of imminent consequences, the Alps are threatened with extinction of drinking water supplies – if it ceases to accumulate in the form of snow, it will quickly pass through rivers. Animals adapted to living in cold climates lose their usual environment. From an economic point of view, there are also concerns: the region may lose its main industry, sports tourism. Maybe in 50-100 years the legendary ski resorts in the Alps will simply disappear.

In the future, the consequences may be even worse – darkness. This is already the case in the Arctic and Central Asia: heavy rains alternate with drought, and the land is no longer covered in snow or greenery. This phenomenon is already visible in 1% of the study area.

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