Up to 92% of glaciers in the Alps could be lost by the end of the century due to climate change, say researchers.
The mountain range’s 4,000 glaciers include popular skiing resorts such as Zermatt in Switzerland and Tignes in France.
According to BBC, the findings by Aberystwyth University suggest those ski resorts’ glaciers would be all but gone.
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Water run-off, storage and Alpine eco-systems would also be affected.
The university’s research covers the entire European Alps region and is based on 200 years of climate records and forecasts covering 1901 to 2100.
They modelled what is called the environmental “equilibrium line altitude” (ELA) of valley glaciers across the Alps.
This is the altitude where the amount of snow and ice that accumulates is the same as the amount that melts or evaporates over a one-year period.
This measure helped the researchers make predictions of the glaciers’ likely response to climate change, which they expect will be “rapid and highly variable”.
