The melting of glaciers continues at an alarming rate: in the Swiss Alps alone, 180 new lakes have formed as a result of their melting. Every year their area increases by 150 thousand square meters. Experts are sounding the alarm, writes DW.
“In the Alps, we have clear evidence of climate change,” said the Swiss Institute of Hydrological Research, which has found an increase in the area of glacial lakes over the past ten years. Only the melting of glaciers in Switzerland has led to the formation of 180 new glacial lakes. Between 2006 and 2016, the water surface area of these lakes in the Alps increased by 150,000 square meters per year.
Irreversible changes?
Glacial lakes are not only in the Alps. The world-famous Seven Rila Lakes in Bulgaria are also glacial lakes, located at about the same height in the mountains as most alpine glacial lakes – more than 2000 m above sea level. Rila lakes are formed in depressions on the hillside, as individual lakes are connected by small streams. When water passes through these streams, small waterfalls and cascades are formed.
The Institute of Hydrological Research in Switzerland first conducted a complete inventory of glacial lakes in the country that formed after the so-called “Little Ice Age” around 1850. In those years, the glaciers reached their largest area in history, then gradually began to melt. Thus, in the period from 1850 to 2016, the area of glacial lakes increased by an average of 40,000 square meters per year. However, after that their growth rate jumped almost four times.