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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Much heat, little snow: "Alpine glaciers have no chance of survival in the long term under such conditions," predicts the Swiss glacier measurement network. In Germany, the last glaciers could disappear within the next ten years.
The lack of snow in the past winter and the great heat in the summer have dramatic consequences for the Alpine glaciers. In Switzerland, around 5.5 percent of the ice volume has melted this year, as reported by the Swiss Glacier Measurement Network (Glamos). It describes the year as devastating for the glaciers. Experts also expect significant losses in Austria.
Switzerland has lost almost 20% of its glaciers in the last five years In the first eight months of 2026, Switzerland's glaciers lost 5.5% of <p>their ice. Since 2021, the total loss has reached 19.4%.</p>
Swiss glaciers have lost 19.4% of their ice since 2021 after a summer of extreme heat
Swiss glaciers have gone through a new "catastrophe" year, losing their volume to nearly 20% in five years. This is the second lowest annual balance sheet after 2022, according to a study published on Thursday.
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