An ancient and persistent snow patch in Scotland is close to disappearing due to climate change.
'The Sphinx' in the Cairngorms National Park was once renowned for never melting. But it’s about to do just that for the fourth consecutive year.
Snow expert Iain Cameron described it as the closest thing the UK has to a glacier.
"It's really suffering. And I don't think it has got much more than two, three weeks left in it," he said.
"In days gone by, you could have expected this to be 30, 40 or even 50 metres long at this time of year. So it's really suffering," Mr Cameron added.
A remnant of the last Ice Age, 'The Sphinx' has been closely monitored since the 1800s and was once considered a permanent fixture in the landscape.
"From something that was deemed permanent, it's now going to be the exception that it survives. And that's an incredible turn of events," Mr Cameron added.
Iain Cameron, author of The Vanishing Ice and a snow patch researcher whose findings are published annually by the Royal Meteorological Society, emphasises that 'The Sphinx’s' current state signals a dramatic shift in climate, highlighting the ongoing impacts of global warming.
