Swiss glaciers melted sharply after light snowfall and heatwave, scientists say

Switzerland's glaciers melted considerably over the past 12 months to log their fourth-largest reduction in ice volume on record, monitoring body GLAMOS said on Wednesday. A winter with little snow, especially in the northeastern part of the Swiss Alps, followed by heat waves in June, caused the glaciers to lose 3 percent of their total ice mass, according to this year's report by GLAMOS and the Swiss Commission for Cryosphere Observation. "This is really a lot," said Matthias Huss, the director of GLAMOS, whose reports cover the October-September hydrological year. Although the ice melt was not as extreme as in 2022 and 2023, when the glaciers lost 5.9 percent and 4.4 percent respectively, the trend is clear. Switzerland has had...