GLACIER THAT VANISHED
As greenhouse gases reach a record high, effects laid bare
IN the first picture, an awesome mass of ice creeps down an Alpine valley. In the second, the glacier is still there – but it is only a shadow of its original self.
The photographs of the Trient Glacier in Switzerland were compared by photographer Denis Balibouse in a dramatic demonstration of the effects of climate change.
To show how global warming has shrunk Switzerland’s rivers of ice, he compared a book of black-and-white 19th century photographs with ones of his own using the same view.
In many cases vegetation had sprung up where the ice had retreated.
Mr Balibouse said: ‘One glacier had dropped about 200m (650ft) in depth and more than 3km (two miles) in length in 150 years. You can really see it. It’s mindblowing the amount of ice that has gone.’
Greenhouse gases, responsible for the global warming that is melting the glaciers, reached a record high last year with ‘no sign of a slowdown’, the World Meteorological Organisation warned.
Concentrations of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, reached 407.8 parts per million in 2018, up from 405.5 ppm in 2017, a report by the UN body shows.
Before the industrial revolution and the large scale burning of fossil fuels, levels were though to be around 280ppm.
The latest rise is just above the annual average over the last decade.
WMO secretary-general Petteri Taalas said: ‘There is no sign of a slowdown, let alone a decline, in greenhouse gases concentration.’ He said commitments under the Paris Agreement on Climate Change should be ‘translated into action’.
He said the last time Earth experienced comparable concentrations of carbon dioxide was three to five million years ago, when temperatures were 2C to 3C warmer and sea levels were ten to 20m (33-66ft) higher than today.
‘There is no sign of a slowdown’