Bisgletscher
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.
Bisgletscher is the 50th-largest glacier in Switzerland, covering 4.18 km² in the canton of Valais. Its ice spans 2,354 to 4,490 m and faces east. Its meltwater drains to the Rhône and on to the Mediterranean. In 1850, at the end of the Little Ice Age, it covered 5.13 km²; by 2016 it had lost 19% of that area. Its tongue has been measured 13 times since 1900. In total it has retreated 81 m, about 0.7 m a year. Between 1982 and 2024 its surface dropped by 12 m on average. With strong climate protection (SSP1-2.6), about 48% of its 2020 ice would remain in 2100. With very high emissions (SSP5-8.5) it would be gone around 2099. Its meltwater peaked around 2020.
In pictures
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What remains in 2100
Meltwater
Million m³ of water per year, 11-year mean
The record
Length change since 1900
Position of the glacier tongue, measured in the field almost every year. Hover for each measurement.
Thinning since 1982
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
- B58-08
- Canton
- Valais
- River
- Rhône → Mediterranean
- Basin
- Vispa
- Location
- 46.1130° N, 7.7180° E · swisstopo map
- Elevation
- 2,354–4,490 m, median 3,459 m
- Slope, aspect
- 26°, east
- Debris cover
- 0.05 km² (1% of the area)
- Inventory image
- 2015
- Ice volume (model)
- ≈ 0.211 km³ in 2020 (OGGM)
- RGI ids
- RGI60-11.02558, RGI60-11.02587
More in the Vispa basin
- Gornergletscher41.23 km²
- Zmuttgletscher14.82 km²
- Findelgletscher13.86 km²
- Feegletscher zentral13.82 km²
- Unterer Theodulgletscher9.63 km²
- Allalingletscher9.09 km²
- Riedgletscher7.23 km²
- Schwarzberggletscher zentral5.14 km²
- Hohlichtgletscher4.54 km²
- Furgggletscher3.82 km²
- Mellichgletscher N3.08 km²
- Hobärggletscher2.98 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/
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.