Swiss Glaciers Experience 5.5% Decline in Ice Mass

October 7, Zurich — Switzerland’s glaciers have lost 5.5 percent of their total ice this year. Experts attribute this significant decline to extreme heat and reduced snowfall during winter, accelerating the rate of ice melt. This marks the second-largest annual drop on record. According to a report released Thursday by Glamos, the Swiss Glacier Monitoring Service, and the Swiss Academy of Sciences, about one-fifth of the ice mass in Switzerland’s glaciers has disappeared over the past five years.

Mathias Huss, head of Glamos and professor of glaciology, stated that Alpine glaciers cannot sustain themselves in the long term under current conditions. He emphasized that recent temperature rises clearly reflect human-induced climate change, noting that without human emissions and fossil fuel use, such warming would not have occurred. The insufficient snowfall during winter poses a significant concern for the longevity of glaciers.

Snow plays a critical role in protecting old ice from melting and in creating the conditions for new ice formation at higher altitudes. In 2022, extreme heat, low snowfall, and red dust carried from the Sahara Desert combined to cause the most intense ice loss ever recorded in Swiss glaciers. Between July and September this year alone, Switzerland’s glaciers are estimated to have lost ice equivalent to approximately 22 trillion liters of water—about four times the annual water consumption of the country’s population of 9.1 million.

Hydropower generates more than half of Switzerland’s electricity, so glacier conditions directly impact water resources and energy production. Although the ice volume lost this year is less than in 2003, the percentage damage is greater. In 2003, total ice declined by 3.5 percent; currently, only about one-third of the ice remaining now is what existed 23 years ago. Some glaciers have seen an average loss in ice thickness between 2.5 and 4 meters, with reductions up to 10 meters in the frontal areas of certain glaciers.

The largest glacier in the Alps, Aletsch, along with glaciers in regions such as Elalin, Clariden, and Rhone, are among those experiencing the fastest ice loss. Experts note that the impacts of glacier melting are not confined to Switzerland alone. Known as Europe’s “water tower,” Switzerland feeds important rivers including the Danube, Po, Rhine, and Rhone. Globally, rising temperatures have led to significant changes in ice and glacier conditions in regions like the Himalayas, Greenland, and Antarctica.