Switzerland's ebbing glaciers show a new, strange phenomenon: Holes reminiscent of Swiss cheese
RHONE GLACIER, Switzerland (AP) — Climate change appears to be making some of Switzerland's vaunted glaciers look like Swiss cheese: Full of holes.
Matthias Huss of the glacier monitoring group GLAMOS offered a glimpse of the Rhone Glacier — which feeds the eponymous river that flows through Switzerland and France to the Mediterranean — shared the observation with The Associated Press this month as he trekked up to the icy expanse for a first 'maintenance mission' of the summer to monitor its health.
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National Observer
an hour ago
- National Observer
Switzerland's ebbing glaciers show a new, strange phenomenon: holes resembling Swiss cheese
Climate change appears to be making some of Switzerland's vaunted glaciers look like Swiss cheese: full of holes. Matthias Huss of the glacier monitoring group GLAMOS offered a glimpse of the Rhone Glacier, which feeds the eponymous river that flows through Switzerland and France to the Mediterranean, shared the observation with The Associated Press this month as he trekked up to the icy expanse for a first 'maintenance mission" of the summer to monitor its health. The state of Switzerland's glaciers came into stark and dramatic view of the international community last month when a mudslide from an Alpine mountain submerged the southwestern village of Blatten. The Birch Glacier on the mountain, which had been holding back a mass of rock near the peak, gave way — sending an avalanche into the valley village below. Experts say geological shifts and, to a lesser extent global warming, played a role. Fortunately, the village had been largely evacuated beforehand, but Swiss authorities said a 64-year-old man had gone missing after the incident. Late Tuesday, regional Valais police said they had found and were examining human remains of a person who died in the mudslide. The Alps and Switzerland — home to the most glaciers in any European country by far — have seen them retreat for about 170 years, but with ups and downs over time until the 1980s, he said. Since then, the decline has been steady, with 2022 and 2023 the worst of all. Last year was a 'bit better," he said. Switzerland's ebbing glaciers show a new, strange phenomenon: holes reminiscent of Swiss cheese. #ClimateCrisis "Now, this year also doesn't look good, so we see we have a clear acceleration trend in the melting of glaciers,' said Huss, who also is a lecturer at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, ETHZ, said in beaming sunshine and with slushy ice dripping underfoot. Less snow and more heat create punishing conditions The European Union's Copernicus climate center said last month was the second-warmest May on record worldwide, although temperatures in Europe were below the running average for that month compared to the average from 1991 to 2020. Europe is not alone. In a report on Asia's climate released Monday, the U.N.'s World Meteorological Organization said reduced winter snowfall and extreme summer heat last year 'were punishing for glaciers' — with 23 out of 24 glaciers in the central Himalayas and the Tian Shan range suffering 'mass loss' in 2024. A healthy glacier is considered "dynamic," by generating new ice as snow falls on it at higher elevations while melting at lower altitudes: The losses in mass at lower levels are compensated by gains above. As a warming climate pushes up the melting to higher altitudes, such flows will slow down or even stop altogether and the glacier will essentially become 'an ice patch that is just lying there,' Huss said. 'This is a situation we are seeing more and more often on our glaciers: That the ice is just not dynamic anymore," he said. "It's just resting there and melting down in place.' This lack of dynamic regeneration is the most likely process behind the emergence and persistence of holes, seemingly caused by water turbulence at the bottom of the glacier or air flows through the gaps that appear inside the blocks of ice, Huss said. 'First the holes appear in the middle, and then they grow and grow, and suddenly the roof of these holes is starting to collapse," he said. "Then these holes get visible from the surface. These holes weren't known so well a few years ago, but now we are seeing them more often.' Such an affected glacier, he said, "is a Swiss cheese that is getting more holes everywhere, and these holes are collapsing — and it's not good for the glacier.' Effects felt from fisheries to borders Richard Alley, a geosciences professor and glaciologist at Penn State University, noted that glacier shrinkage has wide impacts on agriculture, fisheries, drinking water levels, and border tensions when it comes to cross-boundary rivers. 'Biggest worries with mountain glaciers may be water issues — now, the shrinking glaciers are supporting summertime (often the dry season) flows that are anomalously higher than normal, but this will be replaced as glaciers disappear with anomalously low flows,' he said in an email. For Switzerland, another possible casualty is electricity: The Alpine country gets the vast majority of its power through hydroelectric plants driven from its lakes and rivers, and wide-scale glacier melt could jeopardize that. With a whirr of a spiral drill, Huss sends ice chips flying as he bores a hole into the glacier. Then with an assistant, he unfurls a jointed metal pole — similar to the basic glacier-monitoring technology that has existed for decades — and clicks it together to drive it deep down. This serves as a measuring stick for glacier depth. 'We have a network of stakes that are drilled into the ice where we determine the melting of the mass loss of the glacier from year to year,' he said. 'When the glacier will be melting, which is at the moment a speed of about 5 to 10 centimeters (2-4 inches) a day, this pole will re-emerge.' Reaching up over his head — about 2.5 meters (8 feet) — he points out the height of a stake that had been drilled in in September, suggesting that an ice mass had shrunk by that much. In the super-hot year of 2022, nearly 10 meters of vertical ice were lost in a single year, he said. Some glaciers have gone for good The planet is already running up against the target cap increase of 1.5 degrees Celsius in global temperatures set in the Paris Climate Accord of 2015. The concerns about global warming that led to that deal have lately been overshadowed by trade wars, conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East and other geopolitical issues. 'If we manage to reduce or limit global warming to 1.5 degrees, we couldn't save this glacier,' Huss said, acknowledging many Swiss glaciers are set to disappear in the future. As a person, Huss feels emotion. As a glaciologist, he is awestruck by the speed of change. 'It's always hard for me to see these glaciers melting, to even see them disappearing completely. Some of my monitoring sites I've been going to for 20 years have completely vanished in the last years," he said. 'It was very sad — if you just exchange this beautiful, shiny white with these brittle rocks that are lying around.' 'But on the other hand,' he added, "it's also a very interesting time as a scientist to be witness to these very fast changes.'
Toronto Sun
3 hours ago
- Toronto Sun
Brazilian tourist found dead after falling from an Indonesian volcano
Published Jun 25, 2025 • 2 minute read In this undated photo released by the Indonesian National Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS) on Tuesday, June 24, 2025, rescuers prepare for the evacuation operation for Juliana Marins, a Brazilian tourist who fell off the ridge of Mount Rinjani while hiking near the volcano's summit, in Lombok, Indonesia. Photo by BASARNAS via AP / AP SAO PAULO — A young Brazilian hiker who fell hundreds of metres from the ridge of a towering Indonesian volcano and was trapped there for almost four days was found dead on Tuesday, Brazil's government said. For days, millions of people in Brazil had watched, posted and prayed as rescuers tried to locate her. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account The tourist, 26-year-old Juliana Marins, began summiting on June 21 Mount Rinjani, an active 3,726-metre (12,224-foot) volcano on the Indonesian island of Lombok, with a guide and five other foreigners when she fell some 600 metres (1,968 feet), Indonesian authorities said. 'No signs of life were found,' said Mohammad Syafii, head of Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency. Marins' family in Brazil confirmed her death. The Indonesian rescue team said it found Marins' body beside a crater using a thermal drone after four days of intensive searches complicated by extremely harsh terrain and weather. The difficult conditions and limited visibility delayed the evacuation process, Syafii said, as the rescue team climbed carrying Marins' body to Sembalun basecamp but would have to wait until Wednesday for transport to a police hospital. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Brazil's Foreign Ministry called her death a tragedy and said that the country's embassy in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, had coordinated the rescue with local authorities. Marins' ordeal has riveted her home country, Brazil, with millions following the dramatic search-and-rescue efforts since news broke of her fall. Authorities did not say when exactly she died. Adding to the frenzy in Brazil over her ordeal, Brazil's embassy in Jakarta had accused the Indonesian government of fabricating Marins' rescue and misinforming her family that she had been located and given food and water just hours after her fall. There was no immediate response from the Indonesian government on that claim. Indonesia's island of Lombok lies east of Jakarta and neighbors the island of Bali. Mount Rinjani, the country's second-tallest peak, is a popular destination for trekkers. In an Instagram post, Marins' family thanked the many Brazilians who had prayed for their daughter's safety. Marins, a dancer who lived in Niteroi, outside Rio de Janeiro, had been traveling across Asia since February, her family said. She had visited the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand before reaching Indonesia. — Associated Press writer Edna Tarigan in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to this report. Sunshine Girls Toronto Blue Jays Sunshine Girls Relationships Toronto & GTA
Winnipeg Free Press
4 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
18th-century sunken boat discovered by chance under sea in Croatia's famous city of Dubrovnik
DUBROVNIK, Croatia (AP) — A sunken 18th-century boat has been discovered by chance near the majestic stone walls of Croatia's medieval city of Dubrovnik. Ivan Bukelic was working on a water pipeline in Dubrovnik's old port back in April when he found a wooden structure buried in the seabed. 'I can now say I discovered a boat at the Old Town Dubrovnik,' Bukelic, who is a diver and undersea builder from Dubrovnik, said. He added the vessel was some 60-80 centimeters (23-31 inches) under the sea bottom. A key trade port in the Adriatic Sea in medieval times, Dubrovnik has been declared a UNESCO protected heritage site. It attracts huge crowds of tourists, especially during the summer, and is also known as a filming site for HBO's Game of Thrones series. The remains of the boat in Dubrovnik's old port have been protected for further examination. 'We still cannot speak of the type of vessel or its dimensions but we can say for certain, based on the results of radiocarbon analysis that it was from late 18th century,' marine archaeologist Irena Radić Rossi said. Radić Rossi said the aim is to continue with the research in cooperation with Croatia's Ministry of Culture: 'We must protect it for the future.'
