The record year
A snow-poor winter and a hot summer: Swiss glaciers lost 5.9% of their ice in one year.
Date2022
2022−5.9%
2023−4.4%
Two years−10%
In the hydrological year 2021/22, Swiss glaciers lost 5.9% of their remaining volume, far more than the previous record of 3.5% in 2003. On the Aletsch Glacier at Concordiaplatz, six metres of ice melted.
The next year was nearly as bad: 4.4% in 2022/23. Together, 2022 and 2023 removed ten percent of all Swiss glacier ice in two years.
Sources
Sources
- Huss, Linsbauer & Naegeli (2025). Swiss Glaciers. State, projections and significance. Swiss Academies Factsheets 20(2). doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14866776
- GLAMOS (2025). Annual mass balance of Swiss glaciers in 2024/2025. doi.glamos.ch/pubs/annualrep/annualrep_2025.pdf