Birchgletscher
Birch Glacier
Past extents come from the Swiss Glacier Inventories of 1850, 1931, 1973 and 2016. Future extents are illustrative: each glacier’s projected area (OGGM, median of CMIP6 climate models) is removed from its lowest ice upward. About the scenarios.
A small glacier above Blatten in the Lötschental. In May 2025, overloaded by rockfall debris, it collapsed and buried most of the village, which had been evacuated in time.
Birchgletscher is one of 1,400 glaciers in Switzerland, covering 0.36 km² in the canton of Valais. Its ice spans 2,586 to 3,436 m and faces north-west. Its meltwater drains to the Rhône and on to the Mediterranean. In 1850, at the end of the Little Ice Age, it covered 0.65 km²; by 2016 it had lost 44% of that area. Between 1980 and 2023 its surface dropped by 19 m on average. With strong climate protection (SSP1-2.6), about 0% of its 2020 ice would remain in 2100. With very high emissions (SSP5-8.5) it would be gone around 2045. Its meltwater peaked around 2018.
In pictures
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What remains in 2100
Meltwater
Million m³ of water per year, 11-year mean
The record
Thinning since 1980
Average change in surface height, from comparing elevation models made from maps, aerial images and laser scans.
Facts
Area over time
Past areas are the ice body this glacier belonged to at the time. Projections: OGGM median, SSP2-4.5.
- SGI id
- B32-06
- Canton
- Valais
- River
- Rhône → Mediterranean
- Basin
- Lötschental–Aletsch
- Location
- 46.3982° N, 7.8439° E · swisstopo map
- Elevation
- 2,586–3,436 m, median 2,865 m
- Slope, aspect
- 30°, north-west
- Debris cover
- 0.23 km² (63% of the area)
- Inventory image
- 2017
- Ice volume (model)
- ≈ 0.001 km³ in 2020 (OGGM)
- RGI ids
- RGI60-11.02056, RGI60-11.02058, RGI60-11.02074
More in the Lötschental–Aletsch basin
- Grosser Aletschgletscher78.49 km²
- Oberaletschgletscher17.05 km²
- Langgletscher8.01 km²
- Mittelaletschgletscher6.61 km²
- Tellingletscher5.13 km²
- Üssre Baltschiedergletscher3.56 km²
- Driestgletscher1.80 km²
- Innre Baltschiedergletscher1.68 km²
- Jegigletscher NE1.33 km²
- Joligletscher0.86 km²
- Zenbächengletscher0.82 km²
- Dischliggletscher0.64 km²
Sources
- Linsbauer et al. (2021). The new Swiss Glacier Inventory SGI2016. Frontiers in Earth Science 9. doi.org/10.3389/feart.2021.704189
- Mannerfelt et al. (2022). Halving of Swiss glacier volume since 1931 observed from terrestrial image photogrammetry. The Cryosphere 16. doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3249-2022
- GLAMOS – Glacier Monitoring Switzerland. www.glamos.ch
- Zekollari et al. (2024). Twenty-first century global glacier evolution under CMIP6 scenarios and the role of glacier-specific observations. The Cryosphere 18 (OGGM v1.6 projections). tc.copernicus.org/articles/18/5045/2024/
- Petley, D. (2025). The 28 May 2025 catastrophic failure of the Birch Glacier. The Landslide Blog, Eos. eos.org/thelandslideblog/blatten-birch-glacier-5
- Wikipedia. 2025 Blatten glacier collapse. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_Blatten_glacier_collapse
Relief: swisstopo swissALTIRegio. 1850 and 1973 outlines: Maisch et al. (2000), Müller et al. (1976), Paul (2004). Length, mass balance and volume change: GLAMOS releases 2025. All sources and methods.