The view from above – What did last week’s snow do to the glaciers? – Weather




The view from above – What did last week’s snow do to the glaciers? – Meteorology – SRF
























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The Alpine glaciers have suffered more than ever this summer. Many glaciers were free of snow up to a very high point. However, snow reflects sunlight much better than ice or “dirt”. For this reason, even a thin layer of snow helps the glacier, at least temporarily, so that it does not lose much more ice in the further course of autumn.

From the satellite you can see very well whether the snowfall from last Saturday made any difference.

In the upper part of the Aletsch Glacier, the snowfall certainly helped a little, in the lower part it is still snow-free. It just didn’t snow enough. The situation is similar in the Valais Alps and in the Bernina massif.

Most of the snow fell on the eastern northern slope of the Alps. It is therefore not surprising that a large part of the Claridenfirn and the Hüfirn was quite well covered by fresh snow.

These high-resolution satellite images are also available from 2017. The Galcier de Zanfleureon in the Les Diablerets mountains clearly shows the glacier melt since 2017. You can see it well from the freely melted Col de Tsanfleuron.

The retreat of the glacier can also be seen impressively on the SwissTopo maps:

And another map from 1884


SRFMeteo, Sep 18, 7:55 p.m



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