2023-04-21 04:07:00
Current temperatures are accelerating the melting of the ice, especially in the Alps (6% less in one year). This has a direct impact on our environment.
Ice caps nearly 200,000 years old. It is thanks to these samples that a glaciology laboratory in Brussels can follow the evolution of the melting of the ice. “It allows us to reconstruct the transition between a climate controlled by natural phenomena and then the impact of man”explains glaciologist Jean-Louis Tison.
In this laboratory there are regarding twenty freezers with samples of ice from Greenland or the Alps, the situation of which is more worrying than ever. “We see that for 2022, we are at -6% for a single year. We cannot extrapolate these figures in a linear way towards the future, but if we have 16 similar years, there will be no more glaciers in the Alps in Switzerland”, points out Harry Zekollari, a glaciologist.
Record ice losses of nearly 5 cubic km, which have an impact on countries close to glaciers, such as Switzerland, but also Austria and France. But also directly in Belgium.
“This rise in sea level has an impact on the Belgian coast. We will have to change our coasts to be able to defend ourselves better. It’s not something you see from one year to the next, but it’s something that is accumulating. We are going to have to change our infrastructure, especially in the decades to come and for the second part of the 21st century”, added Harry Zekollari.
Rising waters but also drought. The Alps are an essential water supply for many rivers. For now, if no action is taken, the glaciers might totally disappear by the end of the 21st century.
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