'Extraordinary' ice loss measured in Swiss glaciers, report finds
The glaciers lost 5.5% of their total volume.
Glaciers in Switzerland experienced "extraordinary" ice loss in 2026, losing 5.5% of their total volume in a single year due to warmer temperatures and lower snowfall rates, a recent report found.
Glacier Monitoring Switzerland (GLAMOS)'s annual end-of-summer glacial measurements, published in a report on Sept. 23, revealed the ice mass balance among 23 glaciers in the country was the second-lowest on record behind 2022.
"It's not just a continuous decline of glaciers, it's, I would say, almost an explosion of the melting that we have seen in the last five years," Matthias Huss, head of GLAMOS and an author of the report, told ABC News.
In 2022, the report measured a record 5.9% ice volume loss, a quantity labeled "extreme" by the scientists. The 2026 losses approached that level, with some of the individual glaciers that were measured exceeding the losses they experienced in 2022, according to the report.
This glacial loss will endanger water availability in the area, Huss said.
Although meltwater initially increases as glaciers melt, long-term glacier shrinkage reduces seasonal meltwater, which communities depend on during summer heat, Huss said.
This will impact water supply used for hydropower energy production, irrigation and transportation of goods via waterways, according to Huss.
"Glaciers have a very important role of balancing out the variability in the water availability, and it's mostly the variability that is critical when we speak about water availability," Huss said.
Rapid glacial melt can also cause an onslaught of meltwater runoff, Huss said, which can be "treacherous." In recent years, the volume of glacial meltwater released downstream has strongly increased, the report said, adding that 2026 was third highest for meltwater. The researchers also said that despite higher melt rates, there is less water flowing downstream because the glaciers are smaller now.
The report attributed the melting to "long-lasting and intense heat waves" from May to September, as well as very little snowfall during the winter, particularly in the Southern and Eastern parts of the Alps.
The summer months, June through August, were the hottest on record in Switzerland, according to MeteoSwiss, the Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology.
The acceleration of glacial melt in Switzerland in the 21st century is described in the report as "striking." From 2016-2026, 27% of ice volume in Swiss glaciers was lost, up from a 10% loss from 1990-2000 and 14% loss from 2000-2010.
"Glaciers just belong to the mountains," Huss said. "They are beautiful. They attract people. They are part of our home, and they are basically shifting from white mountains, white peaks, to black ones."
Popular Reads
ABC News Live