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Glaciers and ice caps
Mountain glaciers and snow cover have on average decreased clearly in surface area in both the northern and southern hemispheres. It is expected that this decline of glaciers will continue into the 21st century.
- Rhone Glacier 1850 and now (vaw.ethz.ch)
According to an average temperature scenario, three quarters of the current glacier area in Switzerland could disappear by 2050, caused mainly by the rising summer temperatures.
The volume of the ice caps in Greenland and the Antarctic also decreased in the 20th century. The melting of the ice caps contributes to the rise of sea levels, and because water and rocks are darker than ice and reflect less solar radiation (albedo effect) global warming is accelerated even further. Climate models project a progressive melting of the polar caps which will not be slowed by increasing amounts of snowfall.
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