GENEVA, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- Glaciers in the Swiss Alps suffered a "devastating" year due to intense heat and low snowfall, with their volume shrinking by more than 5 percent, experts said Thursday.
The decline was the second-biggest annual loss since 1950, according to Glacier Monitoring in Switzerland. "Intense heatwaves from May to September, combined with a winter with little snow, led to another devastating year for the glaciers."
It added that the freezing level rose above 4,000 meters on a record 76 days during these months, more than twice the average, and that by September, no snow remained even at 3,500 meters above sea level.
"Alpine glaciers have no chance of surviving in the long term under such conditions," the organization said.
Switzerland's glacier ice volume has fallen by almost 20 percent over the past five years, it said.
Between July and September, the glaciers lost around 2,200 billion liters of water in total, more than four times the annual drinking water consumption of all Swiss households. ■