A surge in sunshine more than 60 years ago helped Swiss Alpine glaciers melt faster than today, even though higher average temperatures are being recorded now with global warming, Swiss researchers said Monday. Their study into the impact of solar radiation on Alpine glaciers made the "surprising discovery" that in the colder 1940s, and especially summer 1947, the glaciers lost the most ice since measurements began 95 years ago, according to Zurich's Federal Institute of Technology (ETHZ).