Chamonix: A seasoned French glaciologist has issued a warning that the glaciers in the Alps have lost more than half their volume since the late 19th century, underscoring the accelerating impact of climate change on Europe's highest mountain range.

According to Anadolu Agency, Sylvain Coutterand, in an interview for the special report "Europe's Peak: The Alps," detailed significant changes in France's Alpine region, including shifts in vegetation and human activities. Coutterand recalled the stark transformation in the Alpine landscape from his childhood summer visits in the 1970s and '80s to Les Houches, a village near Chamonix, where frequent precipitation once sustained snow at high altitudes, allowing glaciers to advance.

Today, rising temperatures are more pronounced in ski resorts like Chamonix in France and Zermatt in Switzerland. Coutterand noted, "Climate change is felt more intensely in the mountains than elsewhere." Historical temperature records in the Alps date back to the 1880s, and since the end of the 19th century, the glaciers have lost more than 50% of their volume.

Alpine glaciers began retreating from their Little Ice Age maximum extents around the mid-19th century, with occasional stagnation or re-advances in the 1890s, 1920s, and 1970s-1980s, based on glaciological reconstructions. Lower-elevation and smaller glaciers have since disappeared entirely.

Coutterand emphasized that the "disappearance of glaciers is happening now," warning that iconic glaciers like the Mer de Glace could vanish between 2060 and 2080. He predicted severe challenges for hydropower production and cooling nuclear plants due to reduced water flow, with future water supply issues looming large in the Chamonix Valley once glaciers are gone.

He further explained that glacial melt is altering the region's vegetation, enabling parasites to infest trees and destroy forests, resulting in the death and drying out of large spruce trees. According to Coutterand, bark beetles first devour the bark before attacking the trunk itself. He stressed that curbing greenhouse gas emissions could still preserve the ice sheets of Antarctica and Greenland.