More than 9 m of ice have melted off the Rhône glacier this season, some 30 million tonnes in all, after heatwaves that peaked in June. Field measurements recorded 1.4 m of loss in two weeks, almost 10 cm a day, and nearly four m since mid-June. A collapsed subglacial cave on the lower glacier shows basal melt as well as surface loss.
The severe ice loss follows a run of heatwaves that peaked with the most intense episode in June. More than 9 m of ice have melted from the Rhône glacier's surface this season. The total loss amounts to some 30 million tonnes of ice, and Andreas Bauder at ETH Zurich says the year is on course to surpass 2022, when Saharan dust accelerated alpine melting.[1]
Matthias Huss, director of the glacier monitoring network GLAMOS, said the Rhône glacier lost 1.4 m of ice in the two weeks since his previous visit. This rapid decline equates to almost 10 cm a day. Huss added that he had recorded nearly four m of melt since measurements began in mid-June, and noted that basal melt is being observed more frequently, pointing to a collapsed subglacial cave.[2]
If the melting record is broken, another 6 per cent of all glacier ice in the Alps will disappear in a single season. A hole dozens of metres across has torn open on the lower flank of the Rhône glacier. The world's last year-round ski area has closed on safety grounds, and a well-known ice tunnel at Chamonix has shut as well.[1]
