Arctic heat melts Sweden's highest peak
By Sciences et Avenir with AFP 02.08.2018
Due to heat records in the Arctic, the glacier that covers the southern peak of the Kebnekaise massif lost Wednesday 1er August 2018 its highest point in Sweden.
"I have never seen so much snow melt in the southern part of this massif as this summer," Gunhild Ninis Rosqvist, professor of geography at Stockholm University, told AFP. At the head of the Tarfala research center located near the massif in the Arctic Circle, he was able to measure the height of the summit for several years as part of a research project on global warming.
Four meters less in a month
According to the researcher, the southern peak lost four meters of snow during the month of July alone. This equates to 14 centimeters per day in a month during which Sweden has observed temperature records, which have caused dozens of forest fires, even in the Arctic Circle. According to climatologist Jean Jouzel, these fires are due to global warming.
The latest measurements showed that the southern summit was 2.097 meters above sea level and was only 20 centimeters above the northern summit (2096,8 meters above sea level). However, "according to our forecasts, the southern summit will be lower than the northern summit from August 1," said Rosqvist. Last year the difference between the two peaks was two meters. "All of this happens very quickly. The consequences of this particularly hot summer will be manifested by records of snowmelt and ice in the mountains," he adds. Kebnekaise, a popular tourist destination in northern Sweden, is known for its two peaks: one in the south, covered with a glacier, the other, made of rocks, in the north. The southern summit, measured since 1880, has melted one meter per year for the past twenty years according to Stockholm University.
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