Switzerland is home to 1,400 glaciers, of Which Aletsch is the biggest, and its here that we find groups of scientists developing new techniques to watch the Ice And Snow and monitor their retreat. Glaciers are Water Reservoirs that we have, which is important for groundwater replation. I think this is the important fact, but also if you lose this mass, you have instability in the mountains, so you have more landslides ongoing, more erosion. It is also a cause of natural hazards, avalanches, if theres a lot of Snow And Rock falls and similar things, if theres not enough snow and the ground destabilises. A very important one in terms of the Energy Transition is the hydropower generation. Hydropower generation uses the water that runs down from the mountains and if there is not enough water, they cannot generate enough power. And if there is a lot of water, a lot of snow, they actually need to know this in advance to plan the generation. For all this, we of course need to know where the
3,500m above sea level, weve come to the high Altitude Research Station overlooking the Aletsch Glacier in the alps. Switzerland is home to 1,400 glaciers, of Which Aletsch is the biggest, and its here that we find groups of scientists developing new techniques to watch the Ice And Snow and monitor their retreat. Glaciers are Water Reservoirs that we have, which is important for groundwater replation. I think this is the important fact, but also if you lose this mass, you have instability in the mountains, so you have more landslides ongoing, more erosion. It is also a cause of natural hazards, avalanches, if theres a lot of Snow And Rock falls and similar things, if theres not enough snow and the ground destabilises. A very important one in terms of the Energy Transition is the hydropower generation. Hydropower generation uses the water that runs down from the mountains and if there is not enough water, they cannot generate enough power. And if there is a lot of water, a lot of snow,
it s time for click. this week catching carbon. scannable snacks. and food, made from thin air. tick, tick. we ve heard the warnings for some time. they have been getting louder and louder. the question is has our time to act run out? 2020 was the joint hottest year on record. hurricanes and flash floods have battered the planet. the earth is in crisis. and maybe, just maybe, this time, something will be done. next week, we ll be at the cop26 un climate change conference in glasgow, where pressure is building on those in power to make big changes. and this is the first of three click specials all about sustainability what we can change and how much technology can help. we all know plastic is a problem for our planet. left unchecked, the ocean could contain more plastic than fish by 2050. but much of the harm comes from things that we cannot see so clearly, like the fossil fuels emitting greenhouse gases. they currently emit more than 30 billion metric tons of carbon dioxi