Climate change causes Sweden's glaciers to melt away

- They are no longer moving. They die, says Ninis Rosqvist, professor of geography and director of the Tarfala research station, and points to Kaskasapaktte and Kaskasatjåkka, two white snow fields further up the Tarfala Valley, just east of Kebnekaise.

Glaciers consist of large amounts of snow and ice that move. They react strongly if it gets warmer. The fact that the Arctic is now heating twice as fast as the rest of the globe is therefore clearly visible on the glaciers in the northern hemisphere, a development that climate scientists have warned for a long time.

- The volume and movement of the glaciers is determined by the balance between how much winter snow it comes and how much snow and ice melts away in the summer, which are also two important climate indicators. Melting is a clear sign that the climate is changing very quickly up here, says Ninis Rosqvist.

The decline in glaciers is partly due to the fact that it became warmer in both the mountain regions and around the entire North Atlantic in the early 1900s, which many scientists believe is a natural climate change after the cold Little Ice Age in the Middle Ages. But since the mid-1990s, melting has accelerated again.

- The changes are so obvious now. It is sad, says Ninis Rosqvist, who has been researching the Tarfala area since the 1980s.

The surface and volume of the glaciers have been declining more and more rapidly over the past twenty years. This is most clearly seen at two thousand meters in height, at Kebnekaise's two peaks. In the past, Sydtoppen, which consists of a glacier, has always been higher than Nordtoppen, which consists of mountains. But now the change of faith is a fact.

According to Ninis Rosqvist's latest measurement of the South Peak with GPS technology, the South Peak is now 1, 2 meters lower than the North Peak.

- It is a very beautiful symbol that we are losing now, she says, and believes that the South Peak will have difficulty recovering if development continues.

Snowy winters and cold summers would be required for the glaciers to start growing again, but the forecast does not look good. So the question is how many are left in another 100 years?

- I guess, but at least half of the glaciers may be gone then, says Ninis Rosqvist.