Shrinking glaciers
The melting of Switzerland’s glaciers has been observed for many years. Since the end of the Little Ice Age around 1850, the volume of glaciers in Switzerland has decreased by more than half. As temperatures increase, glaciers melt faster and precipitation falls more often as rain than as snow. When glaciers melt, the important “glacial reservoir” of the water balance changes.
At the moment, glaciers are not in equilibrium with the current climate conditions. Were the climate to remain as it is today, the glaciers would continue to shrink over the next several decades to half of their current volume. However, experts expect an increase in temperature of 3°C by the year 2085 (plus or minus one degree). This warming will have severe repercussions for Swiss glaciers: according to models, only 20 to 30% of the current glacier volume will remain by 2100. Most of the remaining glacier volume will be in the Rhone catchment area, thanks to the largest glacier in Switzerland, the Aletsch.

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Géo-Archéo-Logique !
Participez à cette journée de découverte pour enrichir vos connaissances sur l'histoire humaine et géologique dans les Alpes. Le 4 avril 2025 à Sion.

The World Glacier Monitoring Service call for data
The WGMS regularly compiles and publishes standardized data on glacier changes in length, area, volume, and mass based on in-situ and remotely sensed observations. A corresponding call-for-data is annually sent out through the National Correspondents of the WGMS who organize the collection and submission of the glacier data within their country. The data submission deadline is 1 December 2024.
Image: MRI
Severe melting of glaciers despite heavy snowfall at high altitudes
After the extreme circumstances encountered in 2022 and 2023, no relief is in sight for Swiss glaciers. Despite exceptionally large volumes of snow during the winter, a combination of temperatures in July and August that at times reached record levels and dust from the Sahara resulted in a loss of 2.5% of the glacier volume. This was reported by the Swiss Commission for Cryosphere Observation of the Swiss Academy of Sciences on Tuesday.
Image: Matthias Huss