Swiss Glaciers Lose over 5% of Ice Volume in 2026 as Heat Waves, Low Winter Snow Accelerate Thaw
- On Thursday, the Swiss Glacier Monitoring Network and the Swiss Commission for Cryosphere Observation reported that Swiss glaciers lost 5.5% of their ice volume in 2026, driven by a record-breaking European heatwave.
- A combination of record summer temperatures and insufficient winter snow drove the "enormous" melting, according to GLAMOS director Matthias Huss. The loss remains slightly below the 2022 record of 6% due to more winter snow cover.
- Scientists estimate Swiss glaciers lost around 2.2 trillion liters of water between July and September alone. Switzerland's largest glacier, Aletsch Glacier, suffered its biggest-ever melt this year, while Glacier de Tsanfleuron lost more than four meters of thickness.
- Known as Europe's "water tower," Swiss glaciers feed major rivers including the Rhine and Danube, but accelerated melt threatens to disrupt hydropower production and agricultural water supplies.
- Huss warned that Alpine glaciers have no chance of long-term survival under current conditions, with warming entirely driven by human emissions. "Now we are in this new world, in this future, where glaciers are just melting away," he said.
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lrytas.ltThis year's heatwave in Europe and a snowless winter have taken their toll on Switzerland's glaciers, a study has found. The Alpine country's glaciers have lost 5.5 percent of their mass this year, the Swiss glacier monitoring network Glamos said. It was the second-largest loss since records began about 140 years ago.
berlingske.dk
BTHigher temperatures are speeding up the melting of ice in the Swiss Alps, new report shows.
Glaciers in the Swiss Alps are experiencing an “extraordinary loss” of ice, after a winter with little snow and a spring and summer with...
2026 a 'catastrophic year' as Swiss glaciers melt away
Switzerland's glaciers, which are disproportionately impacted by climate change, have lost nearly 20 percent of their mass in five years, experts said on Thursday, with 2026 registering the second-biggest melt on record. Swiss glaciers saw 5.5 percent of their volume melt away this year, the Glacier Monitoring in Switzerland network found in a new study, published after a record hot summer preceded by a winter with little snowfall. "The glaciers…
Switzerland has lost almost a fifth of its glacier ice in just five years, and the rate of melting remains extremely rapid, the Guardian reports.
The Swiss glaciers have lost 5.5% of their volume this year, according to Glamos data. Their melting is accelerating due to the warming of the country, which is twice as important as the global average. Their average thickness has decreased from 2.5 to 4 meters this summer. - "No chance of long-term survival": the volume of Swiss glaciers has decreased by 20% in five years (Environment).
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