AP PHOTOS: To save Alpine glaciers, Swiss team monitors the escalating melt

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A cameraman walks up to the Rhone Glacier near Goms, Switzerland, Friday, June 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

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Water stands in a tunnel to the Aletsch Glacier near Goms, Switzerland, Wednesday, June 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

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Swiss Federal Institute of Technology glaciologist and head of the Swiss measurement network ‘Glamos’, Matthias Huss, second right, walks up to the Rhone Glacier with his team near Goms, Switzerland, Friday, June 16, 2023. Now dwindling at an alarming rate because of human-caused climate change, the group monitors what is left of the country’s glaciers in an attempt to slow their demise. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

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Workers prepare sheets at the Rhone Glacier near Goms, Switzerland, Thursday, June 15, 2023. The sheets are just a small scale solution and Alpine glaciers are still expected to vanish by the end of the century. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

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Swiss Federal Institute of Technology glaciologist and head of the Swiss measurement network ‘Glamos’, Matthias Huss, right, and his team arrive at the Rhone Glacier near Goms, Switzerland, Friday, June 16, 2023. Now dwindling at an alarming rate because of human-caused climate change, the group monitors what is left of the country’s glaciers in an attempt to slow their demise. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

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Chunks of ice covered by sheets float in a lake at the Rhone Glacier near Goms, Switzerland, Friday, June 16, 2023. The sheets are just a small scale solution and Alpine glaciers are still expected to vanish by the end of the century. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

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Team members of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology glaciologist and head of the Swiss measurement network ‘Glamos’, Matthias Huss, arrive at the Rhone Glacier partially covered near Goms, Switzerland, Friday, June 16, 2023. The sheets are just a small scale solution and Alpine glaciers are still expected to vanish by the end of the century. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

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Snow melt forms small pools on the Aletsch Glacier near Goms, Switzerland, Wednesday, June 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

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A cameraman walks up to the Rhone Glacier near Goms, Switzerland, Friday, June 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

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People enjoy the view at the Aletsch Glacier near Goms, Switzerland, Wednesday, June 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

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Team members of Swiss Federal Institute of Technology glaciologist and head of the Swiss measurement network ‘Glamos’, Matthias Huss, drill holes into the Rhone Glacier near Goms, Switzerland, Friday, June 16, 2023. Now dwindling at an alarming rate because of human-caused climate change, the group monitors what is left of the country’s glaciers in an attempt to slow their demise. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

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Team members of Swiss Federal Institute of Technology glaciologist and head of the Swiss measurement network ‘Glamos’, Matthias Huss, arrive at the Rhone Glacier to take measurements near Goms, Switzerland, Friday, June 16, 2023. Now dwindling at an alarming rate because of human-caused climate change, the group monitors what is left of the country’s glaciers in an attempt to slow their demise. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

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Swiss Federal Institute of Technology glaciologist and head of the Swiss measurement network ‘Glamos’, Matthias Huss, right, and an assistant prepare a camera at the Rhone Glacier near Goms, Switzerland, Friday, June 16, 2023. Now dwindling at an alarming rate because of human-caused climate change, the group monitors what is left of the country’s glaciers in an attempt to slow their demise. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

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Part of the Rhone Glacier is visible near Goms, Switzerland, Thursday, June 15, 2023. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

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Team members of Swiss Federal Institute of Technology glaciologist and head of the Swiss measurement network ‘Glamos’, Matthias Huss, arrive at the Rhone glacier near Goms, Switzerland, Friday, June 16, 2023. Now dwindling at an alarming rate because of human-caused climate change, the group monitors what is left of the country’s glaciers in an attempt to slow their demise. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

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Hikers stand at the edge of the Aletsch Glacier near Goms, Switzerland, Wednesday, June 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

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A crucifix stands at the Fiescher Glacier near Fiesch, Switzerland, Wednesday, June 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

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A team member of Swiss Federal Institute of Technology glaciologist and head of the Swiss measurement network ‘Glamos’, Matthias Huss, passes the Rhone Glacier covered by sheets near Goms, Switzerland, Friday, June 16, 2023. The sheets are just a small scale solution and Alpine glaciers are still expected to vanish by the end of the century. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

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By Matthias Schrader

GOMS, Switzerland (AP) — It is a sight in decline across Switzerland: glaciers sprawled across the Alps, formed over centuries of snow and sediment packed into a crystalline mass.

With the glaciers now dwindling at an alarming rate because of human-caused climate change, team members of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology monitor what’s left in an attempt to slow their demise.

Glaciologist Matthias Huss and his team use measuring and monitoring equipment to keep tabs on how much they’ve shrunk and desperately try to maintain their mass.

At the Rhone Glacier, one of the biggest in the Alps, workers prepare huge sheets to cover the ice like blankets in a bid to shield it from the warmth of the summer months.

Some stretches of mountain once covered with the grayish blue of glaciers are now mostly shrouded by white covers. Chunks of ice floating in a nearby lake are also conserved. The sheets are effective locally but are just a small-scale solution.

Alpine glaciers are still expected to vanish by the end of the century.

In the short term, glacier melt has meant more water, filling Alpine lakes and the flows for many of Europe’s major rivers, giving some relief to those that rely on them amid Europe’s drought woes.

Not PARSE.LY: Glaciers

Swiss glaciers are receding again after 2 punishing years and despite a good start to 2024

But there’s also fear that the melting is causing glacier chunks to detach, sparking deadly avalanches.

In the longer term, the glaciers’ disappearance would only add to the continent’s water concerns.

Swiss glaciers experienced record melting last year, losing more than 6% of their volume and alarming scientists who say a loss of 2% would once have been considered extreme.

At the Aletsch glacier, the longest and deepest in the Alps and popular with tourists, small blue pools form where the snow has melted from the June heat. Water covers the tunnel that leads hikers to it.

But for those who travel to Aletsch, there’s still enough of the glacier — for now — to make the journey worthwhile.

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