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Like walking through time’: as glaciers retreat, new worlds are being created in their wake. Guardian Katherine Hill Photographs by Nicholas JR White 13 Sept 2025 As Swiss glaciers melt at an ever-faster rate, new species move in and flourish, but entire ecosystems and an alpine culture can be lost. From the slopes behind the village of Ernen, it is possible to see the gouge where the Fiesch glacier once tumbled towards the valley in the Bernese Alps. The curved finger of ice, rumpled like tissue, cuts between high buttresses of granite and gneiss. Now it has melted out of sight.
People here once feared the monstrous ice streams, describing them as devils, but now they dread their disappearance. Like other glaciers in the Alps and globally, the Fiesch is melting at ever-increasing rates. More than ice is lost when the giants disappear: cultures, societies and entire ecosystems are braided around the glaciers.
The neighbouring Great Aletsch, like the Fiesch, flows from the high plateau between the peaks of the Jungfrau-Aletsch, a Unesco region in the Swiss canton of Valais and Europe’s longest glacier. It is receding at a rate of more than 50 metres a year, but from the cable car above it remains a mighty sight. Clouds scud across the sky and shafts of light marble the ice. On the rocky slopes leading down to the glacier from the ridge, there are pools of aquamarine brilliance, the ground speckled with startling alpine flowers. The ice feels alive, with waterfalls plunging into deep crevasses and rocks shimmering in the sun. “It’s just so diverse, these harsh mountains and ice, and up the ridge, a totally different habitat,” says Maurus Bamert, director of the environmental education centre Pro Natura Aletsch. “This is really special.”Participants now pray for the glacier not to vanish, but they once prayed for it to retreat and stop swallowing their meadows. Many of the living worlds in the ice and snow are not visible to the human eye. “You don’t expect a living organism on the ice,” Bamert says. But there is a rich ice-loving biotic community and surprising biodiversity that thrives in this frozen landscape.
Springtails or “glacier fleas” survive on the snow’s crust – this year alone, five new species were identified in the European Alps. But there are also algae, bacteria, fungi and ice worms, as well as spiders and beetles, which feed on springtails. As ice melts, this landscape and its inhabitants, human and non-human, are all affected. Along the glacier’s path, ice turns to water and the rushing sound of the river becomes audible. In 1859, at the greatest extent of its thickness, the glacier reached 200 metres higher than it does now. The landscape revealed by the melt is mostly bare rock, riven with fissures that spill across the hillside. Jasmine Noti from Aletsch Arena, the regional tourism organisation, says these widen each year, new cracks appear and routes are redesigned. The ice acts like a massive buttress, gluing the hillside together, and as it melts, slippage and instability increase.
As the edges of the glacial valley descend into the cool cover of the Aletschwald forest, “it’s like walking through time”, says Bamert. On the higher slopes, older pines dominate, but lower down the trees thin, and the pioneer species of larch and birch cover the hillside: early signs of newer postglacial reforestation. It only takes about five to 10 years for plants to colonise the land. Further down yellow saxifrage and mountain sorrel cling to the rocks. All this was once under ice sheets, but the succession of growth tells a story of glacial retreat, historic and recent.Tom Battin, professor of environmental sciences at Lausanne’s Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, says glacial margins are a transitional landscape where ecosystems are vanishing and appearing. An expert on the microbiology of stream ecosystems, Battin led a multiyear project on vanishing glaciers and what is lost with them.
As he walks down to the Märjelensee, one of the Aletsch’s glacial lakes, this transition is readily apparent. In this mountain hollow, there was once an expansive lake with ice cliffs around its rim. Today, the pools of water are lit by patchy sun and rain, fish jumping and bog cotton dancing in summer light. Battin points to aquatic mosses. These, he says, could never live in glacial streams which are fast flowing and extreme. Wading into the water, he searches for the golden-brown blooms of a particular alga, Hydrurus foetidus, which is a keystone species that thrives in glacier-fed rivers, fixing carbon dioxide into organic matter. There are whole worlds in and around the ice, poorly known and understood until recently. Mountains are like high islands, Battin says, with unique ecosystems and endemic species.
“Without this biodiversity which you can’t see,” he says, “all that other biodiversity that people care about might disappear.”......read on https://www.theguardian.com/
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Large parts of the country are still under water although the levels have gone down as of Tuesday morning. It comes just days after typhoon Kalmaegi ripped through the same region, leaving tens of thousands of people reeling. And in September, a magnitude 6.9 earthquake hit the province of Cebu.
While the Philippines is prone to natural disasters, this series of catastrophes is "not routine", the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said in a statement on Sunday.
"It is a stark reminder of the escalating climate and seismic risks faced by vulnerable nations. Urgent support is needed to scale up relief efforts, prevent further loss of life and support the country as it recovers from this latest disaster," it said. https://www.bbc.com/news/
Typhoon Kalmaegi - one of the strongest of 2025 - has caused severe flooding in the Philippines, where it left at least 114 dead, before heading for Vietnam. Climate change is not thought to increase the number of hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones worldwide. But warmer oceans coupled with a warmer atmosphere - fuelled by climate change - have the potential to make those that do form even more intense. That can potentially lead to higher wind speeds, heavier rainfall, and a greater risk of coastal flooding. What are hurricanes and where do they happen?.....Hurricanes are powerful storms which develop in warm tropical ocean waters. In someparts of the world, they are known as cyclones or typhoons. Collectively, these storms are referred to as "tropical cyclones". Have hurricanes been getting worse?....Globally, the frequency of tropical cyclones has not increased over the past century, and in fact the number may have fallen - although long-term data is limited in some regions. But it is "likely" that a higher proportion of tropical cyclones across the globe have reached category three or above over the past four decades, meaning they reach the highest wind speeds, according to the UN's climate body, the IPCC. Philippines declares state of calamity as typhoon death toll rises to 114 The IPCC quotes "medium confidence" that there has been an increase in the average and peak rainfall rates associated with tropical cyclones. The frequency and magnitude of "rapid intensification events" in the Atlantic has also likely increased. This is where maximum wind speeds increase very quickly, which can be especially dangerous. There also seems to have been a slowdown in the speed at which tropical cyclones move across the Earth's surface. This typically brings more rainfall for a given location. For example, in 2017 Hurricane Harvey "stalled" over Houston, releasing 100cm of rain in three days. In some places, the average location where tropical cyclones reach their peak intensity has shifted poleward - for example the western North Pacific. This can expose new communities to these hazards and there is some evidence the increased intensity of US hurricanes means they are causing more damage. How is climate change affecting hurricanes?......Assessing the precise influence of climate change on individual tropical cyclones can be challenging due to the complexity of these storm systems. But rising temperatures can affect these storms in several ways. Firstly, warmer ocean waters mean storms can pick up more energy, leading to higher wind speeds. Maximum wind speeds of hurricanes between 2019 and 2023 were boosted by an estimated 19mph (30km/h) on average as a result of human-driven ocean warming, according to a recent study. Secondly, a warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture, leading to more intense rainfall.Climate change made the extreme rainfall from Hurricane Harvey in 2017 around three times more likely, according to one estimate......read on https://www.bbc.com/news/
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Why Are Plankton So Crucial For Life on Earth – And How Is Climate Change Affecting Them? Oceans.Org Nansen Chen Aug 15th 2025 Plankton, the microscopic organisms that form the basis of the marine food web, produce half of the Earth’s oxygen and absorb up to 40% of the global carbon emissions. But with climate change-driven ocean warming, algae reproduction and shrinking photic zones are threatening plankton populations, affecting both biodiversity and humans. Plankton is defined as a creature that is carried by tides and currents and cannot swim well to resist those forces. They are microscopic, measuring no more than one inch (2.45 centimeters) , although they also include larger species like some crustaceans (crabs, shrimp) and jellyfish. Plankton are classified by their size, type, and drift time – phytoplankton (plants) and zooplankton (animals) are the most common basic categories.
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Ocean Prediction: Present Status and State of the Art.......
The OceanPrediction DCC has unveiled a major new special issue in the Copernicus State of the Planet Journal. Entitled “Ocean Prediction: Present Status and State of the Art”, it features 26 peer-reviewed papers by top researchers worldwide, mapping the current landscape of ocean forecasting from core capabilities to new artificial intelligence and cloud-based tools, and its role in several socio-economic sectors, such as marine safety, coastal management, and disaster risk reduction. This milestone, two years in the making, was made possible by the contributions of 68 authors from around the world, including 12 from MOi, the Entrusted Entity for the Copernicus Marine Service
Ocean Prediction DCC and Copernicus Marine....The Copernicus Marine Service and its product catalogue were referenced several times throughout the issue, with the authors using Copernicus Marine as a benchmark in discussions surrounding regional forecasting systems and numerical models, and as a data source for existing operational ocean forecasting services and applications across the globe. This collection, which was developed by the OceanPrediction DCC’s “Ocean Forecasting Co-Design Team” in collaboration with Ocean Decade programmes (Foresea, DITTO, and Ocean Practices), underscores both the progress and the hurdles facing ocean prediction. A second volume tackling future directions and knowledge gaps is already under development.
Abstract......Operational ocean forecasting systems (OOFSs) have proven to be immensely valuable today. Numerous successful and inspiring services are operating in various regions of the world, contributing to cutting-edge applications within the marine community. This success lays a strong foundation for building a global community around ocean forecasting. However, the development and enhancement of existing forecasting systems remain challenging due to the absence of best practices, standards, and community-endorsed architectures. The OceanPrediction Decade Collaborative Center (DCC) and its associated Decade actions aim to address these challenges by leveraging the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021–2030) and the concept of digital twinning. This paper introduces the OceanPrediction DCC and outlines the forward-looking strategies to achieve these ambitious goals. The special issue introduced by this paper is part of this broader effort.
The United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021–2030), also referred to as “the Decade”, was proclaimed by the 72nd session of the UN General Assembly on 5 December 2017. Coordinated by the IOC-UNESCO, the Decade seeks to promote large-scale, transformative change to shift from the “ocean we have” to the “ocean we want”. The Decade supports the development of ocean data, information, and knowledge systems, driving them toward higher levels of readiness, accessibility, and interoperability. The scale of this effort must be exponentially greater than anything previously undertaken. To guide the Decade's implementation, the IOC (Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission) has developed an Implementation Plan (IOC-UNESCO, 2021), supported by contributions from member states, UN agencies, intergovernmental organizations, nongovernmental organizations, and relevant stakeholders. The OceanPrediction Decade Collaborative Center (DCC) is a cross-cutting structure within this plan that operates globally, fostering collaboration among the Decade actions related to ocean prediction. Mercator Ocean International has been entrusted by the IOC-UNESCO to coordinate the OceanPrediction DCC, with the mission “to achieve a predicted ocean through a shared and coordinated global effort within the framework of the UN Ocean Decade.” The center implements a community-driven agenda that allows the ocean prediction community to collaborate on activities such as communication, outreach, training, cost sharing, joint workshops, and the standardization of language and outputs. Additionally, it facilitates the co-design of an architecture necessary for developing a global ocean prediction system.The center acts as a global convener of multidisciplinary ocean prediction expertise, collaborating with intergovernmental programs (e.g., GOOS, ETOOFS, IODE, OBPS) to establish agreements on operational infrastructure, terminology, and standards needed to deliver unified services from multiple geographic and thematic nodes
Promoting operational ocean forecasting systems (OOFSs) as a crucial tool for the blue economy and ocean policy.ZTo develop a global technical and organizational structure centered on the following.........
Co-designing, in collaboration with Ocean Decade actions and other key stakeholders, a new scenario for ocean forecasting that facilitates data sharing and interoperability while leveraging digital twin technologies. Identifying needs and coordinating the development of new tools, standards, and best practices for the implementation and improvement of Ocean Forecasting Services and its applications, with a focus on a science-to-service framework and promoting interoperability and integration. Aligning Decade actions with the objectives of ocean forecasting and fostering collaboration between Decade initiatives and other relevant actors To support the Decade Coordination Unit (head of the Decade) by collaborating with other Decade collaborative centers and coordination offices, ensuring alignment and monitoring of Decade actions to secure their long-term legacy.
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Ocean temperatures have been heating up over the past century, and hitting record highs for much of the past year, driven primarily by the rise in greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels. Scientists estimate that more than 90% of the excess heat produced by human activities has been taken up by the ocean.That warming, hidden for years in data of interest only to oceanographers, is now having profound consequences for coastal economies around the woUnderstanding the role of the ocean in the economy is something I have been working on for more than 40 years, currently at the Center for the Blue Economy of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies. Mostly, I study the positive contributions of the ocean, but this has begun to change, sometimes dramatically. Climate change has made the ocean a threat to the economy in multiple ways.
The dangers of sea-level rise.....
One of the big threats to economies from ocean warming is sea-level rise. As water warms, it expands. Along with meltwater from glaciers and ice sheets, thermal expansion of the water has increased flooding in low-lying coastal areas and put the future of island nations at risk In the U.S., rising sea levels will soon overwhelm Isle de Jean Charles in Louisiana and Tangier Island in Chesapeake Bay. Flooding at high tide, even on sunny days, is becoming increasingly common in places such as Miami Beach; Annapolis, Maryland; Norfolk, Virginia; and San Francisco. High-tide flooding has more than doubled since 2000 and is on track to triple by 2050 along the country’s coasts. Understanding the role of the ocean in the economy is something I have been working on for more than 40 years, currently at the Center for the Blue Economy of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies. Mostly, I study the positive contributions of the ocean, but this has begun to change, sometimes dramatically. Climate change has made the ocean a threat to the economy in multiple ways.
The dangers of sea-level rise One of the big threats to economies from ocean warming is sea-level rise. As water warms, it expands. Along with meltwater from glaciers and ice sheets, thermal expansion of the water has increased flooding in low-lying coastal areas and put the future of island nations at risk. In the U.S., rising sea levels will soon overwhelm Isle de Jean Charles in Louisiana and Tangier Island in Chesapeake Bay. Flooding at high tide, even on sunny days, is becoming increasingly common in places such as Miami Beach; Annapolis, Maryland; Norfolk, Virginia; and San Francisco. High-tide flooding has more than doubled since 2000 and is on track to triple by 2050 along the country’s coasts. Rising sea levels also push salt water into freshwater aquifers, from which water is drawn to support agriculture. The strawberry crop in coastal California is already being affected. These effects are still small and highly localized. Much larger effects come with storms enhanced by sea level......read on and watch the video o water level
Higher sea level can worsen storm damage.....Warmer ocean water fuels tropical storms. It’s one reason forecasters are warning of a busy 2024 hurricane season........read on and watch the video showing water levels rise in Chaleston as ocean temperatures rise
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