When Matthias Huss first visited Rhône Glacier in Switzerland 35 years ago, the ice was just a short walk from where his parents would park. When I first stepped onto the ice... there [was] a special feeling of eternity, recalls Matthias, now the director of Glacier Monitoring in Switzerland (GLAMOS). Today, the glacier lies half an hour away from the same parking spot.
This change speaks volumes about the accelerating retreat of glaciers across the globe, particularly those nestled within the Swiss Alps. In 2024, a staggering 450 billion tonnes of ice were lost from glaciers outside the vast sheets of ice in Greenland and Antarctica, equivalent to 180 million Olympic swimming pools, as reported by the World Meteorological Organization.
According to Prof Ben Marzeion from the Institute of Geography at the University of Bremen, Glaciers are melting everywhere in the world... they are sitting in a climate that is very hostile to them now because of global warming. Over the last decade, Swiss glaciers have lost approximately a quarter of their ice mass, a disheartening reminder of the alarming trajectories in glaciology.
Photos taken over the years reveal the dramatic shifts. The Rhône Glacier has significantly retreated, as revealed by satellite images confirming a lake's appearance at the glacier's former front. Until recently, glaciologists deemed a 2% ice loss in a year as extreme; however, that notion has shifted dramatically following an extraordinary 6% loss in 2022. This extensive loss continues into 2023 and beyond, marking an accelerating crisis.
Dr. Huss laments the complete disappearance of smaller glaciers like the Pizol Glacier, dubbing it a personal loss. The Gries Glacier has similarly shrunk by about 2.2 kilometers over the last century; its former terminus now submerged under a vast lake.
The Great Aletsch Glacier, the largest in the Alps, has retreated by around 2.3 km over the past 75 years, replaced by trees where ice once dominated. The pivotal question arises: how do we halt this loss? Scientific consensus indicates that major human-driven atmospheric warming steps must be curtailed to preserve half of the remaining glacial ice worldwide.
Clear steps towards mitigating climate change can help preserve glaciers, believed to be critical freshwater resources for the future, particularly in regions such as the Himalayas, where millions rely on glacial meltwater during dry periods. Climatic action is imperative to ensure that glaciers continue to provide vital water resources for irrigation, drinking, and energy in the era of climate change.
