The southern peak has become lower: why the highest mountain in Sweden has lost its status

Even in Scandinavia, the effects of a planetary increase in air temperature are clearly visible. Recently, Swedish scientists were forced to rewrite the geography of their country, but not in the section of climatic indicators, but in the area of relief. The fact is that the outstanding peak of Sweden - the southern peak of Mount Kebnekaise - lost its prestigious position. Now it is not the highest point on the hypsometric map of Sweden, its place will be taken by the neighboring peak - the Northern peak of Kebnekais.

Swedish glaciologists, who had not been in the mountain area for several years, could not recognize Kebnekaise, it had changed so much. Last summer, scientists from Stockholm were forced to state a sad fact: the southern peak of the mountain lost its magnificent white hat. Just a few years ago, the southern peak of Kebnekaise, covered with ice, had a height of 2 106 meters. The neighboring peak was free of ice and was always lower. But, as it recently became clear, the superiority of the southern peak is not long-lived in a rapidly changing climate.

Kebnekaise is located in the north of the country, near the border with Norway. Even on the maps of Sweden in the middle of the last century, you could see the mark of 2 123 meters. The glacier on top of each summer decreased in size, the mountain temporarily lost about 3 meters in height. But with the advent of winter, this difference was leveled due to the accumulation of snow and ice at low temperatures. In the last century, the glacier gradually decreased in volume, and the winter accumulation of snow did not compensate for the summer melting. Over the past half century, the southern peak has lost 24 meters, and this process has been particularly intense in the past 10 years. Recent measurements made this summer showed that the southern peak of Kebnekaise was completely cleared of ice and was 1.2 meters lower than its neighbor. Now the highest mountain in the country has become the Northern peak Kebnekaise with an indicator of 2 097 meters.

Alas, the melted ice cap in Sweden has added to the list of glaciers that disappeared during the lifetime of the current generation of earthlings. Not so long ago we wrote about how environmentalists and public figures of Iceland, another northern European country, noted the disappearance of the Ok. This glacier has also become a victim of climate change, and, most likely, the list of ice caps lost by the planet will be replenished in the future.