Swiss glaciers suffer massive melt after light snowfall, summer heat, scientists say

Swiss glaciers melted considerably over the past 12 months, demonstrating the fourth largest annual loss on record, as confirmed by monitoring body GLAMOs on Wednesday.

According to this year’s report by GLAMOS and the Swiss Commission for Cryosphere Observation, a winter with little snow, particularly in the northeastern part of the Swiss Alps, followed by heat waves in June, caused the glaciers to lose up to 3% of their total mass.

Although the 2024 ice melt wasn't as severe as the 5.9% and 4.4% losses of 2022 and 2023, respectively. 

Switzerland has experienced its worst decade of ice melt on record with one quarter of glacier volume lost since 2015.

The Rhone Glacier was the biggest ice field during the ice age but has increasingly shrunk and ultimately lost an average of about 1.5 meters in thickness this year.

The director of GLAMOS, Matthias Huss, said, “Unfortunately there is not much we can do to save the glaciers…”

But if carbon dioxide emissions were to fall zero globally over the next 30 years, then up to 200 Swiss glaciers at high elevation could be saved, he further added.

This year Swiss glaciers below 3,000 meters above sea level badly suffered in distinct ways.

The report demonstrates that Swiss glaciers below 3,000 meters above sea level suffered in particular this year.

The once-healthy Silvretta Glacier in northeastern Switzerland had a huge ice melt following the lowest amount of snowfall for the area since measurements began a 100 years ago.

Additionally, the shrinking of glaciers contributes to mountain destabilization and can trigger avalanches of rock and ice, such as the catastrophic glacial collapse that destroyed the village of Blatten in Valais this May.