Swiss Glaciers Lose over 5% of Ice Volume in 2026 as Heat Waves, Low Winter Snow Accelerate Thaw
Scientists said 5.5% of Swiss glacier volume vanished as record heat and low snowfall drove some tongues to lose up to 10 meters of ice.
- 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.
274 Articles
274 Articles
Kreiszeitung
Swiss glaciers lose ice as fast as ever in 2026. Even experienced researchers are stunned – and still discover a development.
The Alps have been experiencing massive glacier retreat in recent years. In Switzerland alone, almost six percent of the glacier volume has disappeared this year, and almost twenty percent in the past five years. The long-term retreat of glaciers is mainly caused by climate warming, and this year's losses have been exacerbated by extreme heat and a lack of snow.
Glaciers in the Swiss Alps have shrunk by approximately 20 percent in the last five years due to climate-related temperature increases. A report prepared jointly by the Swiss Glacier Monitoring Network (GLAMOS) and the Cryosphere Monitoring Commission states that record temperatures following a winter with insufficient rainfall have caused the melting to reach historical levels...
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