{"id":1985,"date":"2026-10-01T13:03:44","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T08:03:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=1985"},"modified":"2026-10-01T13:03:44","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T08:03:44","slug":"swiss-glaciers-lose-more-than-5-of-ice-after-record-heatwave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=1985","title":{"rendered":"Swiss glaciers lose more than 5% of ice after record heatwave"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Swiss glaciers are \u200bshrinking rapidly after suffering one of their worst years of ice loss during \u200ca record-breaking European heatwave.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Switzerland\u2019s glaciers lost more than 5% of their ice in 2026, a report by the Swiss Glacier Monitoring Network (GLAMOS) and the Swiss Commission for Cryosphere Observation of the Swiss Academy of \u200bSciences showed on Thursday.<\/p>\n

The findings underscore the accelerating pace of glacier retreat as extreme \u200bmelt years become routine. Over the past five years, Swiss glaciers have \u2060shed almost a fifth of their ice, the report showed, threatening future water supplies and \u200braising questions about the long-term survival of Europe\u2019s ice fields.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow we are in this new \u200bworld, in this future, where glaciers are just melting away,\u201d Matthias Huss, director of GLAMOS, said.<\/p>\n

A combination of a winter with too little snow and record temperatures in the summer led to what Huss called \u201cenormous\u201d \u200bmelting this year.<\/p>\n

<\/a>\u2018A really worrying situation\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cWe are seeing extreme years almost every year now, and \u200bthis is really a worrying situation,\u201d Huss said.<\/p>\n

Still, the rate of ice loss has not yet quite \u200creached \u2060the record highs of 2022, when dust clouds from North Africa settled on the snow and accelerated melting, Huss said.<\/p>\n

Switzerland\u2019s largest glacier, Aletsch Glacier, suffered its biggest-ever melt this year, while Glacier de Tsanfleuron lost more than four meters (13 feet) of average thickness. Huss said this \u200bwould have been unthinkable \u200ba few years ago.<\/p>\n

In \u2060total, the scientists estimate Swiss glaciers lost around 2.2 trillion litres of water between July and September alone, equivalent to more than \u200bfour times the annual drinking water consumption of Swiss households.<\/p>\n

That has one \u200bpositive side \u2060effect: glacier melt contributes to easing summer water shortages.<\/p>\n

But, as ice-covered areas shrink and glaciers become smaller, this benefit is decreasing, Huss said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not that we\u2019re surprised because we know how fast \u2060the \u200bglaciers are melting, but to see the colours of \u200bthe mountains where there is no snow left, there are just these rocks,\u201d Huss said. \u201cIt makes me sad.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Swiss glaciers are \u200bshrinking rapidly after suffering one of their worst years of ice loss during \u200ca record-breaking European heatwave. Switzerland\u2019s glaciers lost more than 5% of their ice in 2026, a report by the Swiss Glacier Monitoring Network (GLAMOS) and the Swiss Commission for Cryosphere Observation of the Swiss Academy of \u200bSciences showed on Thursday. The findings underscore the accelerating pace of glacier retreat as extreme \u200bmelt years become routine. Over the past five years, Swiss glaciers have \u2060shed almost a fifth of their ice, the report showed, threatening…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1985\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}