One of Germany’s five glaciers is lost due to the hot weather.

German researchers have declassified the Southern Schneeferner in the Alps as a glacier since this summer’s severe heat exacerbated its demise.

Germany currently has only four glaciers left, according to the Bavarian Academy of Sciences’ report on Monday.

The Southern Schneeferner is an ice sheet that lies on a high plateau south of the country’s highest peak, the Zugspitze. Researchers said that measurements in mid-September showed it has shrunk by half in the last four years.

They said that because it is no longer able to slide downhill and is only slightly thicker than 2 metres (6 feet) in most places, it is no longer a glacier and cannot be classified as such.

The scientists predicted that the remaining ice will fully melt away within the next one to two years.

Many of Europe’s glaciers, according to experts, are likely destined to disappear in the ensuing decades as a result of human-caused climate change.