Concerns mount as study reveals Switzerland’s glaciers shrink 25 per cent in a decade

Geneva: Switzerland’s glaciers have lost a quarter of their volume in the last ten years, with over 1,000 small glaciers having already disappeared, GLAMOS, the glacier monitoring network in Switzerland, and the Swiss Commission for Cryosphere observation (SCC) of the Swiss Academy of Sciences jointly said.

Meanwhile, almost three per cent of the glacier volume was lost across the country in 2025, marking the fourth largest level of shrinkage since measurements began, just after the years of 2022, 2023 and 2003, GLAMOS and SCC said in a statement on Wednesday (local time).

The statement said that despite 2025 being designated the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation, a winter with low snow depth combined with heat waves in June and August led to further massive melting of glaciers in Switzerland.

According to the SCC, snow reserves from the winter were depleted in the first half of July, and the ice masses began to melt unusually early.

In particular, glaciers below 3,000 meters above sea level have suffered considerably in 2025. Some glaciers experienced ice thickness reductions exceeding two meters, while others with lesser losses saw reductions of around one metre, reports Xinhua news agency, quoting the Swiss Commission for Cryosphere observation (SCC) of the Swiss Academy of Sciences.

“The continuous diminishing of glaciers also contributes to the destabilising of mountains,” said Matthias Huss, director of GLAMOS. “This can lead to events such as in the Lotschental valley, where an avalanche of rock and ice buried the village of Blatten.”

IANS