German climate activists pour mashed potatoes over €111 million Monet’s work

The Bavarian Academy of Sciences said the Schneefelner Glacier in southern Bavaria has lost its official status as a glacier because the once-extending ice sheet has melted rapidly.

“The thickness of Schneefelner’s ice has shrunk significantly over large areas, reaching less than 2 meters (6.5 feet) in most places,” the Academy said in its latest findings.

Even the thickest spots are now less than 6 meters, compared to about 10 meters in 2018. The glacier surface area halved to about 1 hectare over the same period.

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“This allows us to conclude that the remaining ice will completely melt in the next one to two years,” said the Academy.

He said the dramatic shrinkage meant that the regular measurements the Academy had taken since 1892 would now be suspended.

This loss means there are only four glaciers left in Germany. North Schneeferner and Hellenthalferner in the Zugspitze, and Blaueis and Watzmann in the Berchtesgaden Alps.

Experts say the rapid melting of glaciers in the Alps and elsewhere is caused by climate change.

The Bavarian environment ministry said last year in a shocking report that Germany could lose its last glacier within a decade as climate change accelerates.

Scientists previously estimated that glaciers would exist until mid-century.

A global study published in April 2021 found that nearly all the world’s glaciers are losing mass at an unprecedented rate, contributing to more than a fifth of global sea level rise this century. understood.