Climate change: Sweden’s highest mountain has fallen two meters in one year | Recorded the lowest height since 1940

According to a Swedish study, the Swedish mountain ice summit Kebnekaise it is slowly melting due to climate change. Geological formation it has become a symbol of the fragility of nature because its level has been gradually decreasing for decades.

The researchers say that the degradation of the mountain began in 1990 and since then it has already lost more than 20 meters.

Since the mid-1940s, there has been an uninterrupted series of measurements of the southern peak of the Kebnekaise, taken from the research station of the Stockholm University, Tarfala.

Measurements show that snow blown from the peak has varied in height and shape during the 20th century.

Lowest height since 1940

On August 14 this year, researchers from the Tarfala Research Station measured the southern peak of Kebnekaise at 2,094.6 meters above sea level.

This is the lowest altitude since the 1940s. On August 7, 2020, the height of the southern peak was 2,096.5 meters above sea level (then it melted half a meter more until mid-September). Over the past year, the melt has been closer to two meters.

Since 2000, the height of the highest peak has decreased significantly. “The height variation is a symptom of glaciers as the climate in Sweden warms. When hikers go up to the top, they pass a flat part, a ‘pre-peak’, which did not exist 20 years ago “Glaciology professor Per Holmlund told the Tarfala research station website.

Air temperature and wind conditions

On average, all the galleries have decreased in thickness by 0.5 meter since 2020. This corresponds to approximately 26,000 tonnes of water.

The decrease in the peak and the change in the appearance of the drift can be explained mainly by the increase in air temperature, but also by the changing wind conditions, which affect where the snow sits. accumulates in winter.

A few days ago, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) presented a report on climate change in 2021.

In the “Summary for Policymakers” it is pointed out that the melting of glaciers around the world has been “unmatched” over the past 2,000 years and predicts that glaciers will continue to shrink for centuries to come.