In the Pyrenees, there are still nearly 25 glaciers, compared to 45 at the beginning of the 2000s.
A low accumulation of snow this winter and strong heat since spring, including this summer at altitude, accelerate their melting.
Some, already in poor condition, could disappear sooner than expected.
The two successive heat waves that France has just recorded have not spared the Pyrenees massif.
And even less its symbolic glaciers whose melting has accelerated over the past two decades.
“There are about 25 glaciers left on the Pyrenean chain today compared to around a hundred in the middle of the 19th century.
Since 2000, we have lost half, there were then 45,” recalls Pierre Réné, founder of the “Moraine” association, an observatory of glaciers on the French side of the chain.
For this glaciologist who surveys the peaks of the massif throughout the year, the high temperatures of recent weeks will not help what global warming has been suggesting for several years: by 2050 there will be no more of glaciers in the Pyrenees.
Little accumulated snow, early melting
A forecast that could well come sooner when we look at the current state of these masses of ice, the areas of which are shrinking visibly.
Last May, when his association drew up the balance sheets of winter snow accumulation measurements, it was already not brilliant.
"The measurements taken on the Ossoue glacier in Vignemale show that over the past twenty years, this is the lowest value recorded after 2006. On the Maladeta glacier, the Spanish colleagues also measured the lowest value of snow accumulation for thirty years", notes this mountain specialist.
This is what's left today of the Maladeta glacier, the largest in the Pyrenees.
I was there 10 years ago in September (when ice is worst), and the difference is sobering.
#ClimateCrisis pic.twitter.com/ldQILQQns3
— Gerard Rocher-Ros (@GRocherRos) July 18, 2022
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However, the life of a glacier passes through the accumulation of winter snow, which makes it grow, followed by melting in summer.
One compensating for the other more or less.
“But here we were already starting with a handicap since we had low to very low snow accumulations.
If behind there is a hot summer, a very significant regression is expected.
It has been seen before, but it is repeated a little too often, ”laments Pierre René.
If usually, at altitude, the coolness is maintained in the summer, which reduces the melting, this year this is not the case.
“Since May 27, at altitude, there have been no frosts in the Pyrenees.
Normally, above 2,500 m altitude, in the middle of summer, it can freeze anytime.
Here we are on a series that is not exceptional since in 2018 we had no frosts from the end of May-beginning of June until October 1st.
But we are coming out of a spring that was very warm compared to 2018. And that year there was a lot of snow, which was not the case this winter.
It is very hot at altitude, we equaled the records for several days above 1,500 m where we had 30°C, up to 33 or 34°C, considerable values”, adds Christophe Dedieu, the president of Météo Pyrenees.
Comparison using Sentinel 2 satellite images of snow cover mid July 2022 at the top and mid July 2018 below above the Cirque de Gavarnie and the Brèche pic.twitter.com/wBCeLIIdJy
— Weather Pyrenees (@Meteo_Pyrenees) July 26, 2022
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And shows on many pictures shared on its social networks the impact of these last heat waves.
As on the remarkable site of the Breche de Roland, on the Franco-Spanish border.
The glacier that still existed ten years ago has completely disappeared.
But there was still a little snow, there must be only one or two snowfields.
Early disappearance of fragile glaciers
“If we continue to chain deficits and hot summers like this, glaciers already in poor condition and which are low could disappear by 2025. That of Seil de la Baque, in Luchonnais, or the Maupas glacier could thus disappear shortly, ”continues Christophe Dedieu, a bit annoyed.
To counteract this continuous melting of the glaciers, many harsh winters would be needed, with heavy snowfalls that could compensate for the high temperatures.
Like in 2013, when there was a lot of snow in the Pyrenees.
But it was an exceptional winter, with an accumulation of snow such as we see every 100 years.
And nothing suggests a turnaround in the next few years.
“There is an inertia of the climate system.
This warming is rapid, it is also for the glaciers which do not have time to balance and adapt to current conditions.
Even if we suddenly stopped the warming, the glaciers of the Pyrenees would continue to melt to seek a state of equilibrium that would correspond to this current climate.
With or without warming, they are threatened,” concludes Pierre René.
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