Glaciers in Quick Retreat

Got a sense of deja vu yet? Scientists from the World Glacier Monitoring Service, at the University of Zurich have found that many of the world’s mountain glaciers are melting at a faster rate than at any time in the past 150 years.

Glaciers in the Alps are experiencing a particularly rapid disappearance: There has been a 50 per cent decrease in the area of the Alps covered by glaciers over the past 150 years. At this rate less than 10 per cent of the glaciers in the Alps will still be ice by the end of the century.

“Glaciers have been shrinking since 1850 but there has been a definite acceleration over the past two decades,” argues Dr Zemp from the Monitoring Service.