SWITZERLAND-CLIMATE-GLACIERS-MOUNTAINS-ENVIRONMENT

This photograph taken above Gletsch, in the Swiss Alps, on September 30, 2024 shows a woman exiting an ice cave protected by insulating fabric covering a part of the Rhone Glacier to prevent it from melting next to its glacial lake. 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)