Swiss scientists hope to save biggest glacier in the Alps even as ice loss accelerates

JUNGFRAUJOCH, Switzerland, March 21 (Reuters) - The biggest glacier in the Alps could yet be partially saved if global warming is capped below two degrees Celsius, Swiss scientists said on Friday, although significant ice loss is now inevitable.

Glaciers around the globe are disappearing faster than ever, with the last three-year period seeing the largest glacial mass loss on record, according to a UN report on Friday.

The Great Aletsch Glacier in the Bernese Alps, which is 20 kilometers long and weighs 10 billion tons, attracts over a million people a year who can view its immensity from the Junfraujoch viewing platform at 3,454 meters above sea level.

"It's very likely that almost all glaciers are going to be lost and I sincerely hope that the Aletsch Glacier at this high elevation, we may be able to preserve some of the ice," Matthias Huss, Director of Glacier Monitoring Switzerland (GLAMOS), told Reuters at the top of the Jungfraujoch railway station.