UPSC Articles
Climate change has added over 1,000 lakes in Swiss Alps: Study
Part of: GS Prelims and GS – III – Environment
In news According to the study published by the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), climate change has dramatically altered the Swiss Alp landscape — at a quicker pace than expected — as melting glaciers have created more than 1,000 new lakes across the mountains
What are the key findings of the Report?
- The inventory of Swiss Glacial lakes showed that almost 1,200 new lakes have formed in formerly glaciated regions of the Swiss Alps since the end of the Little Ice Age around 1850.
- Around 1,000 of them still exist today which is far more than the few hundreds the researchers had expected to find at the beginning of the project.
- Marked acceleration in formation was surprising and 180 have been added in the last decade alone.
Do you know?
- According to an annual study by the Swiss Academies of Science, Glaciers in the Swiss Alps are in steady decline, losing a full 2% of their volume last year alone
- According to a 2019 study by the ETH technical university, even if the world were to fully implement the 2015 Paris Agreement two-thirds of the Alpine glaciers will likely be lost.
News Source: TH
