Swiss glaciers 'in full retreat'

By Jonathan Amos
Science reporter, BBC News, San Francisco



Swiss glaciers are melting away at an accelerating rate and many will vanish this century if climate projections are correct, two new studies suggest.

One assessment found that some 10 cubic km of ice have been lost from 1,500 glaciers over the past nine years.

The other study, based on a sample of 30 representative glaciers, indicates the group's members are now losing a metre of thickness every year.

Both pieces of work come out of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology.

"The trend is negative, but what we see is that the trend is also steepening," said Matthias Huss from the Zurich university's Laboratory of Hydraulics, Hydrology and Glaciology.

"Glaciers are starting to lose mass increasingly fast," he told BBC News.

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Meanwhile, our intrepid Renee is freezing her, er, buns off in Chicago. Funny thing about global warming. It's never around when and where you need it.

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