Ahead of the UN Climate Conference in December, Reuters has released the fourth of their “Earthprints” series focusing on how humans change the landscape of the planet, featuring Switzerland’s shrinking Great Aletsch Glacier. From Reuters: “One of Europe’s biggest glaciers, the Great Aletsch, coils 23 km (14 miles) through the Swiss Alps—and yet this mighty river of ice could almost vanish in the lifetimes of people born today because of climate change. The glacier, 900 meters (2,950 feet) thick at one point, has retreated about 3 km (1.9 miles) since 1870 and that pace is quickening.” Reuters also quotes Andreas Vieli, a professor at the University of Zurich’s group of glaciology experts, who says that “the Aletsch may lose 90 percent of its ice volume by 2100, with the lower reaches melting away.” He adds, “My kids are going to see a very different scenery in the Alps.”
Human Impact on the Earth: Switzerland's Great Aletsch Glacier
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Read moreThe Great Aletsch Glacier in Switzerland, animated between a combination of NASA satellite images taken August 18, 1987, and June 8, 2014 (when the glacier is narrower and shorter). The glacier, 900 meters (2,950 feet) thick at one point, has retreated about 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) since 1870, and that pace is quickening. #
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Read moreHikers walk on Aletsch Glacier near the Eggishorn in Fiesch, Switzerland, on August 22, 2015. #
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Read moreHikers climb the 460 steps up to the Konkordia Hut on Aletsch Glacier on August 28, 2015. #
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Read moreGoats stand on rocks at the Platta viewpoint on Aletsch Glacier on August 12, 2015. #
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Read moreHikers get ready under the full moon at the Konkordia Hut above the glacier at Konkordia Place, Switzerland, on August 29, 2015. #
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Read moreMountain guide Christian Pletscher looks towards the Aletsch Glacier from the Jungfraufirn Glacier in Switzerland on August 28, 2015. #
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Read moreWater from the melting glacier runs down through a hole, photographed on August 28, 2015. #
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Read moreIce melts on the Aletsch Glacier on August 12, 2015. #
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Read moreMountain guide Christian Pletscher stands in a cave beneath the Aletsch Glacier on August 29, 2015. #
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Read moreA close-up of ice viewed from inside a glacier cave beneath Aletsch Glacier on August 29, 2015. #
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Read moreAletsch Glacier at dusk in Fiesch, Switzerland, on August 11, 2015. #
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Read moreGoats and sheep rest at the Platta viewpoint on Aletsch Glacier on August 12, 2015. #
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Read moreMarks left by retreating ice are pictured on a rock with the Aletsch Glacier in the background on August 12, 2015. #
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Read moreMountain guide Christian Pletscher walks on Aletsch Glacier on August 29, 2015. #
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Read moreA group of hikers (top left) walk on Aletsch Glacier on August 12, 2015. #
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Read moreHikers walk down steps onto the glacier on August 29, 2015. #
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Read moreA goat rests at the Platta viewpoint as a group of hikers (background, right) trek in the distance on the glacier on August 12, 2015. #
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Read moreAletsch Glacier viewed from the Eggishorn summit in Fiesch, Switzerland, on August 22, 2015. #
Denis Balibouse / Reuters
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