SWITZERLAND-ENVIRONMENT-CLIMATE-MOUNTAINS-GLACIERS

Tourists watch the Rhone Glacier and its glacial lake due to the melting of the glacier, above Gletsch, on September 30, 2024. A snowy winter provided no respite for Switzerland's glaciers, which shed 2.4 percent of their volume over the past year, with sand blown in from the Sahara accelerating the summer melt. The past 12 months have been "exceptional both in terms of accumulation and melt" for the Swiss glaciers, a fresh study from Glacier Monitoring in Switzerland (GLAMOS) showed on October 1, 2024. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP) (Photo by FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images)