Latest news with #ChristianHuggel
Reuters
2 hours ago
- Climate
- Reuters
Sustainable Switch Climate Focus: Swiss village destroyed by glacier collapse
May 30 - This is an excerpt of the Sustainable Switch Climate Focus newsletter, where we make sense of companies and governments grappling with climate change on Fridays. To receive the full newsletter in your inbox for free sign up here. Hello, Today's newsletter focuses on extreme weather events, including a glacier collapse in a Swiss village and wildfires in Manitoba, Canada. These come as a U.N. report warns of rising global temperatures over the next five years, with Arctic warming predicted at more than three times the global average. Let's start with the glacier collapse in the Swiss Alps and the deluge of ice, mud and rock that crashed down a mountain and engulfed some 90% of the village of Blatten. Rescue teams with search dogs and thermal drone scans have been looking for a missing 64-year-old man. Local police suspended the search on Thursday afternoon, saying the mounds of debris were too unstable for now. Blatten's 300 residents had already been evacuated earlier in May after part of the mountain behind the Birch Glacier began to crumble. Water trapped behind a mass of glacial debris blocking a river in southern Switzerland has sparked warnings that further evacuations may be needed amid the risk of flooding in the Alpine valley. Up to 1 million cubic meters of water are accumulating daily as a result of the debris damming up the river, said Christian Huggel, a professor of environment and climate at the University of Zurich. Residents struggled to absorb the scale of devastation that buried most of their picturesque Swiss village, in what scientists suspect is a dramatic example of climate change's impact on the Alps. Scientists have found that the world is expected to experience more record temperatures over the next five years, with Arctic warming predicted at more than three times the global average, according to the report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). There is an 80% chance that at least one of the next five years will see record heat, with a high likelihood that average warming will exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels, according to the report. Keep scrolling for more updates on this week's extreme weather events such as the wildfires in Manitoba and the drought in northwest England. And click here, opens new tab to let us know what you would like to read more about our Reuters climate tracker survey. What to Watch Click here for an inspiring Reuters video on cutting down carbon emissions in the construction industry through a brick made entirely from recycled building waste. Unlike traditional clay bricks, the K-BRIQ produces 95% less CO2, according to its Scottish maker, Kenoteq. Climate Commentary Climate Lens The European Commission will set a new EU climate target to cut net greenhouse gas emissions 90% by 2040, compared with 1990 levels, diplomats familiar with the closed-door talks told Reuters. The Commission has promised not to weaken Europe's ambitious climate aims, despite mounting criticism from governments and lawmakers concerned about the cost for European businesses, which are struggling with high energy prices and looming U.S. tariffs. Think your friend or colleague should know about us? Forward this newsletter to them. They can also subscribe here.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
A collapsing glacier destroyed a Swiss village. Is climate change to blame?
A small village in the Swiss Alps has been engulfed by ice, mud, and rock in a rare natural disaster that points to an uncertain future as unstable mountainous glaciers can break apart in destructive avalanches. A swirling and volatile combination of climate change effects, fragile natural environments and human development contribute to the danger, leaving experts concerned about what the future may hold. While similar avalanches occasionally happen in the Alps, one hasn't impacted a populated region for over a hundred years. "It's critical to realize that we now have left the space of historical precedence and entered an era where we face new hazards from locations that have never been a problem in the past and where protection may be technically hardly possible or financially unfeasible," Christian Huggel, a professor of environment and climate at the University of Zurich, told USA TODAY via email. Studying this kind of disaster isn't easy, partly because such "ice-rock-debris" avalanches often occur in isolated areas so gathering good data is a challenge. "Statistics are difficult here but it seems that the past 5-10 years have brought more such critical situations in the Swiss Alps than in the earlier past. We should definitely prepare for more of the kind in the future," Huggel said. As much as 90% of Blatten, Switzerland, is now engulfed by ice, mud, and rock after what scientists suspect is a dramatic display of the impact of climate change on mountain communities. "We've lost our village," Matthias Bellwald, the mayor of Blatten told a press conference after the slide. "The village is under rubble." A video shared widely on social media showed the dramatic moment when the glacier partially collapsed, creating a huge cloud that covered part of the mountain as rock and debris came cascading down towards the village. More: Swiss glacier collapses, burying village: Video, satellites show Blatten before and after While recently rare in the Alps, "events of the dimension of the 'ice-rock-debris avalanche' in Blatten are known from and studied in regions like the Himalayas or Alaska over the past several decades," Huggel told USA TODAY via email. A similar event happened in April 2024, but did not affect population centers, said Huggel. But the destruction of large parts of a village (with 300 inhabitants) "has in fact no historical precedence in the 21st and 20th century." Before that, there was a landslide in Goldau in 1806 and one in Elm in 1881, where more than 400 and 100 people lost their lives, respectively, Huggel said. "Higher average annual temperatures may lead to more glaciers, especially in steep terrain, becoming 'unstuck' from their beds, or mountain permafrost, which can keep mountain slopes frozen together, thawing and making such slopes less stable," said Bruce Raup, a senior associate scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center. Raup told USA TODAY that globally speaking, such events happen in steeper, younger mountain ranges such as the European Alps and the Himalaya where erosional processes are more active. Risk is higher if there are people or infrastructure near potential mass movements, or downstream where a blocked stream could lead to flooding. ABC News reports that an uptick in glacier melt had been observed at Birch Glacier, and emergency managers ordered hundreds of villagers to evacuate. Huggel called what happened next "a complex interaction of various processes of rock slope instability." According to Raup, "the event was a massive rock avalanche/landslide falling onto a glacier that then collapsed and went down together with the rock mass." While various factors were at play in Blatten, it was known that local permafrost had been affected by warmer temperatures in the Alps. The loss of permafrost can negatively affect the stability of the mountain rock, which is why climate change had likely played a part in the deluge, Huggel said. (This story has been updated to add new information.) Contributing: Reuters This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Swiss glacier collapse caused a disaster. Is climate change to blame?
USA Today
3 days ago
- Science
- USA Today
A collapsing glacier destroyed a Swiss village. Is climate change to blame?
A collapsing glacier destroyed a Swiss village. Is climate change to blame? The natural disaster shows a volatile combination of climate change effects, fragile natural environments and human development. Show Caption Hide Caption Watch rock and debris cascade as huge chunk of glacier collapses A Swiss village with about 300 residents evacuated when part of a nearby mountain began to crumble. A glacier collapsed, burying the village. A small village in the Swiss Alps has been engulfed by ice, mud, and rock in a rare natural disaster that points to an uncertain future as unstable mountainous glaciers can break apart in destructive avalanches. A swirling and volatile combination of climate change effects, fragile natural environments and human development contribute to the danger, leaving experts concerned about what the future may hold. While similar avalanches occasionally happen in the Alps, one hasn't impacted a populated region for over a hundred years. "It's critical to realize that we now have left the space of historical precedence and entered an era where we face new hazards from locations that have never been a problem in the past and where protection may be technically hardly possible or financially unfeasible," Christian Huggel, a professor of environment and climate at the University of Zurich, told USA TODAY via email. Studying this kind of disaster isn't easy, partly because such "ice-rock-debris" avalanches often occur in isolated areas so gathering good data is a challenge. "Statistics are difficult here but it seems that the past 5-10 years have brought more such critical situations in the Swiss Alps than in the earlier past. We should definitely prepare for more of the kind in the future," Huggel said. What happened in Blatten, Switzerland? As much as 90% of Blatten, Switzerland, is now engulfed by ice, mud, and rock after what scientists suspect is a dramatic display of the impact of climate change on mountain communities. "We've lost our village," Matthias Bellwald, the mayor of Blatten told a press conference after the slide. "The village is under rubble." A video shared widely on social media showed the dramatic moment when the glacier partially collapsed, creating a huge cloud that covered part of the mountain as rock and debris came cascading down towards the village. More: Swiss glacier collapses, burying village: Video, satellites show Blatten before and after Are ice-rock-debris avalanches rare? While recently rare in the Alps, "events of the dimension of the 'ice-rock-debris avalanche' in Blatten are known from and studied in regions like the Himalayas or Alaska over the past several decades," Huggel told USA TODAY via email. A similar event happened in April 2024, but did not affect population centers, said Huggel. But the destruction of large parts of a village (with 300 inhabitants) "has in fact no historical precedence in the 21st and 20th century." Before that, there was a landslide in Goldau in 1806 and one in Elm in 1881, where more than 400 and 100 people lost their lives, respectively, Huggel said. Climate change makes for an uncertain future "Higher average annual temperatures may lead to more glaciers, especially in steep terrain, becoming 'unstuck' from their beds, or mountain permafrost, which can keep mountain slopes frozen together, thawing and making such slopes less stable," said Bruce Raup, a senior associate scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center. Raup told USA TODAY that globally speaking, such events happen in steeper, younger mountain ranges such as the European Alps and the Himalaya where erosional processes are more active. Risk is higher if there are people or infrastructure near potential mass movements, or downstream where a blocked stream could lead to flooding. How the ice-rock-debris avalanche unfolded ABC News reports that an uptick in glacier melt had been observed at Birch Glacier, and emergency managers ordered hundreds of villagers to evacuate. Huggel called what happened next "a complex interaction of various processes of rock slope instability." According to Raup, "the event was a massive rock avalanche/landslide falling onto a glacier that then collapsed and went down together with the rock mass." While various factors were at play in Blatten, it was known that local permafrost had been affected by warmer temperatures in the Alps. The loss of permafrost can negatively affect the stability of the mountain rock, which is why climate change had likely played a part in the deluge, Huggel said. (This story has been updated to add new information.) Contributing: Reuters
Telegraph
4 days ago
- Climate
- Telegraph
Watch: Glacier collapse buries Alpine village
An avalanche of rock, ice and mud has buried a village in the Swiss Alps. A 64-year-old man has been reported missing after 90 per cent of the village of Blatten, in the Lötschental valley, was smothered by the avalanche on Wednesday afternoon. The village's 300 inhabitants escaped mass casualties after authorities evacuated the area 10 days ago as a precaution. Video footage captured the moment about 3.5 million cubic metres of rock, snow and ice broke off the Birch Glacier, which looms above the village. Matthias Bellwald, the mayor of Blatten, said: 'We've lost our village. The village is under rubble. We will rebuild.' Stephane Ganzer, the head of security in the southern Valais region, told local TV channel Canal9: 'What I can tell you at the moment is that about 90 per cent of the village is covered or destroyed. 'So it's a major catastrophe that has happened here in Blatten'. The debris has blocked a river that runs through the village raising concerns of flooding. The government has said it will provide help to villagers whose homes have been destroyed. Christian Huggel, a professor of environment and climate at the University of Zurich, said the extent of the damage to Blatten had no precedent in the Swiss Alps in the current or previous century. Residents have been urged to stay away from the area as it is still dangerous. Global warming has been blamed for a rise in the instability of glaciers worldwide, with scientists saying the warmer temperatures are melting the permafrost.
The Star
4 days ago
- Climate
- The Star
Army searches for missing man after glacier debris buries Swiss village
Mud and rocks slide down a mountain after a glacier partially collapsed covering most of the village of Blatten, Switzerland May 28, 2025, in this screen grab taken from a handout video. Pomona Media/Handout via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT WILER, Switzerland (Reuters) -The army was deployed and rescue specialists were airlifted in to search for a man still missing on Thursday after a huge chunk of glacier crashed down a mountain in Switzerland, burying much of a picturesque Swiss Alpine village. Blatten had already been evacuated more than a week earlier when part of the mountain behind the Birch glacier began to crumble but a 64-year-old man was thought to have been in the area of the deluge of ice, mud and rock on Wednesday. The debris has carved a grey gash into the wooded mountainside, stripping it bare of trees and leaving channels of water seeping over the mass of rock and earth below. A thin cloud of dust hung in the air over the Kleines Nesthorn mountain where the rockslide occurred and a helicopter buzzed overhead. Experts were concerned that the debris was blocking a nearby river, causing a new lake to form and posing a flood risk on top of the rest of the devastation. Three rescue specialists have been airlifted to the site, Swiss cantonal police and officials said. The army has also been deployed to the area to assist, they said. Swiss officials were struggling to come to terms with the scale of the landslide, which officials said blanketed around 90% of the village. "This is the worst we could imagine. This event leaves us shocked," Albert Roesti, the Swiss environment minister, said late on Wednesday at a press conference in the Valais canton, where the village is. The incident has revived concern about the impact of rising temperatures on Alpine permafrost, even if environmental experts have so far been cautious about attributing the glacier's collapse to the effects of climate change. The degeneration of part of the Birch glacier in the Loetschental valley occurred after sections of the mountain behind it began breaking off in the past few days, and ultimately brought down much of the ice mass with it. Christian Huggel, a professor of environment and climate at the University of Zurich, said that various factors were at play in Blatten where it was known that permafrost had been affected by warmer temperatures in the Alps. He added that the debris was damming up the Lonza river next to the village, saying this could pose a major challenge with up 1 million cubic meters of water accumulating there daily. (Reporting by Dave Graham; Writing and additional reporting by Emma Farge in Geneva; Editing by Alison Williams)
