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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Environment
Ajit Niranjan

‘It made me cry’: photos taken 15 years apart show melting Swiss glaciers

Side by side comparison of Duncan and Helen Porter standing in front of the glacier in the two photos
Duncan and Helen Porter took the first photo, right, in 2009 and revisited this year. Composite: Duncan Porter

A tourist has posted “staggering” photos of himself and his wife at the same spot in the Swiss Alps almost exactly 15 years apart, in a pair of photos that highlight the speed with which global heating is melting glaciers.

Duncan Porter, a software developer from Bristol, posted photos that were taken in the same spot at the Rhône glacier in August 2009 and August 2024. The white ice that filled the background has shrunk to reveal grey rock. A once-small pool at the bottom, out of sight in the original, has turned into a vast green lake.

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