Alps lost more ice in 2022 than ever before
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The summer of 2022 was highlighted by an immense drought that devastated more than a third of Europe.
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The Eiger, Guggi, and Giesen Glaciers near the Jungfrau in the Swiss Alps in Wengen, Switzerland on August 27, 2019. (Reuters)
According to the EU climate change service Copernicus, more glacier ice melted in the Alps last year than ever before.
The Alps' glaciers have lost more than 5 cubic kilometers (1.2 cubic miles) of ice, according to the service's European State of the Climate Report 2022 (ESOTC 2022), and last summer was the hottest ever recorded.
Summer temperatures averaged 1.4 degrees higher than the 1991-2000 reference period. Temperatures in Europe are rising at around double the worldwide rate, according to Copernicus.
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Copernicus Director Carlo Buontempo stated that the climate in the future will be "very, very different" from the climate we knew in our childhoods.
According to Copernicus, the summer of 2022 was highlighted by an immense drought that devastated more than a third of Europe, hurting agricultural, transportation, and energy sources. This was due in part to less snow falling than typical the previous winter, as well as massive heat waves in the summer, which worsened the issue.
There was also a large increase in the number of days judged to be days of high heat stress across southern Europe.
Read more: Record-high winter temps in Europe affect tourism, natural ecosystems
Furthermore, solar radiation in Europe was higher than at any point in the previous 40 years. As a result, several sections of the continent have above-average potential for solar power generation. This tendency is expected to continue, according to experts.
Last year, the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere did not drop. On the contrary, both carbon dioxide and the very strong greenhouse gas methane concentrations soared.
