2024 will be the hottest year in modern times and the target of no more than 1.5 degrees of global warming will be exceeded. This is shown by new statistics from the EU’s climate service Copernicus.
The temperature has risen gradually from the 1950s onwards and the effects have had major consequences, warn several unanimous scientists.
The climate organization Greenpeace has taken pictures at Svalbard and compared them with what it looked like in the same place before – and there is a clear difference.
“No more surprises”
In an old photograph, large blocks of ice can be seen next to a mountain in the waters of Svalbard. Today, only the mountain remains.
– Unfortunately, these images are no longer a surprise, says Nina Kirchner, professor of glaciology.
She herself has worked at Svalbard and seen the changes. But even in the Swedish mountains, she notices the rapid melting. A study of all 269 Swedish glaciers, made with the help of satellite data, shows that all have retreated in recent years.
– I think we have come so far that everyone realizes that this is human influence. We cannot negotiate with the laws of physics, snow and ice melt at zero degrees and the warmer it gets, the more it melts. In addition, the rapid warming naturally causes the glaciers to melt at an ever faster rate, says Nina Kirchner.
“We need to rethink”
This year the large glacier, which is located on the eastern slope of Kebnekaise in Lapland, has melted faster than has ever been measured. According to Kirchner, 80 percent of the world’s glaciers are expected to melt by the year 2100 if global emissions continue at the same rate.
– It has an impact on ecosystems. The amounts of meltwater mean that there will be more water in places than there was before, and less in others. There is then a fairly large risk that the system will end up out of balance and we don’t know if they will be able to adapt, she says.
The direct consequences such as rising sea levels and the water supply do not yet have as great an impact as in many other places globally. But according to Kirchner, there is no reason to continue “business as usual”.
– This does not mean that it does not affect other elements on earth in our ecosystem. And there we need to rethink. We cannot wait until the disaster is at the door and knocks, says Nina Kirchner.
See more before and after photos in the video at the top of the article.