The Sphinx, Scotland's oldest patch of perpetual snow, is close to melting. It is now five metres long, almost ten times shorter than it should have been in early September. Scientists are concerned that this is the fourth year in a row that it has happened.
There are no glaciers in Great Britain today, but long ago, ice covered much of the Isles. A few remnants of it have been preserved in the Scottish Cairngorm mountain range, on the slopes of Mount Braeriach. One of them, called the Sphinx, has been an object of interest to scientists for centuries – this snow patch lasted all year round, not melting even in the summer months. In the 21st century, this situation has changed drastically.
An increasingly common phenomenon
As Iain Cameron of the Royal Meteorological Society (RMETS) told Reuters, the Sphinx was just five metres long and a metre thick at the beginning of September. That’s tiny compared with historical records, which put it at between 34 and 50 metres long at this time of year.
“I don't think it has more than two or three weeks left. If the cold weather continues, it could last until the end of the month, but everything indicates it will melt,” he explained.
This is particularly worrying because the Sphinx has completely disappeared only ten times in more than three hundred years of observations. Its first meltdown, in 1933, caused a media sensation. But now the phenomenon is becoming more common: 2024 will be the fourth consecutive autumn without the telltale patch of snow.
“This snow patch has only melted three times in the 20th century, which is extraordinary. But this year, 2024, it will melt for the fourth year in a row. To me, that's a worrying indicator of climate change,” the researcher said.
Main image source: Reuters/Climate Center