World News | Germany Loses 1 of Its 5 Glaciers to Scalding Summer

Berlin, Sep 27 (AP) Scientists in Germany have stripped the Southern Schneeferner in the Alps of its status as glacier after extreme heat this summer hastened its demise.

The announcement Monday by the Bavarian Academy of Sciences means Germany now has only four glaciers left.

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The Southern Schneeferner is an ice sheet that lies on a high plateau south of the country's highest peak, the Zugspitze. Researchers said that measurements in mid-September showed it has shrunk by half in the last four years.

It is now little more than 2 metres thick in most areas, meaning it won't glide downhill anymore and therefore can't be considered a glacier, they said.

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"The remaining ice will melt away completely in the coming one to two years," the scientists said.

Experts say many of Europe's glaciers are likely doomed to vanish in the coming decades due to human-caused climate change. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)