BERLIN, March 19 (Xinhua) -- Germany is likely to lose all its last remaining glaciers in the 2030s, researchers said on Thursday, as record melting driven by rising temperatures sharply accelerates the retreat of what was once seen as the country's "eternal ice."
Germany's four remaining glaciers lost more than a quarter of their total area in just two years, according to new measurements conducted by geographer Wilfried Hagg from Munich University of Applied Sciences and glaciologist Christoph Mayer from the Bavarian Academy of Sciences.
In total, around 1 million cubic meters of ice disappeared, while average ice thickness fell by 1.6 meters per year, a significantly faster rate than in the 2018-2023 period, the researchers said. They attributed the change mainly to climate change and exceptionally high temperatures in recent years, which have also been well above the long-term average in the Alps.
"We are seeing that the glaciers are now melting at a rapid pace," Mayer said. "The speed of glacial retreat has doubled in recent years."
Researchers said that about half of all glaciers across the Alps are projected to disappear by mid-century. Alpine warming is running at roughly twice the global average, and glacier loss can accelerate further as dark debris exposed by melting absorbs more heat.
"The retreat of glaciers is one of the most visible signs of the climate crisis," said Wolfgang Arnoldt, vice president of the German Alpine Club. "If we want to preserve the Alps as a valuable natural habitat and living space, we must act much more decisively on climate protection."
