Climate Trackers: Capercaillie

At present, the Pyrenees mountain chain comprises approximately thirty glaciers. A glacier is made up of an enormous quantity of frozen water that remains all year long and is regenerated by the alternation of accumulation of snow in winter and a partial thaw of this snow in summer. The natural cycle of thawing and regression of the glaciers began in the middle of the 19th century, but has accelerated rapidly over the last thirty years due to global warming. Average temperatures 2 ° degrees higher and a significant reduction in snowfalls have prevented the annual regeneration of the glaciers and caused a very rapid decrease in the volume and surface of the glacial masses. If the current trend of thawing continues, by 2050 all of the Pyrenees glaciers could well disappear.