Claridenfirn
Clariden Firn
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.
One of the three glaciers with mass balance measurements going back to 1914. In September 2025 it was completely free of snow, meaning it gained no new ice that year. In 2026 it recorded its most negative mass balance ever, worse even than 2022.
Claridenfirn is the 47th-largest glacier in Switzerland, covering 4.71 km² in the canton of Glarus. Its ice spans 2,464 to 3,256 m and faces east. Its meltwater drains to the Rhine and on to the North Sea. In 1850, at the end of the Little Ice Age, it covered 2.72 km²; by 2016 it had lost −73% of that area. Its tongue has been measured 23 times since 1893. In total it has retreated 419 m, about 8.6 m a year. Its mass balance has been measured since 1915: on average −0.26 m of water equivalent per year, with the most negative year in 2022 (−2.93 m). Between 1936 and 2022 its surface dropped by 21 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 2052. Its meltwater peaked around 2023.
Then and now
What remains in 2100
Meltwater
Million m³ of water per year, 11-year mean
The record
Length change since 1893
Position of the glacier tongue, measured in the field almost every year. Hover for each measurement.
Mass balance 1915–2025
Ice gained (blue) or lost (red) over the whole glacier each year, in metres of water equivalent. Measured with stakes drilled into the ice.
Thinning since 1936
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
- A50i-19
- Canton
- Glarus
- River
- Rhine → North Sea
- Basin
- Linth
- Location
- 46.8418° N, 8.8830° E · swisstopo map
- Elevation
- 2,464–3,256 m, median 2,870 m
- Slope, aspect
- 13°, east
- Debris cover
- 0.04 km² (1% of the area)
- Inventory image
- 2013
- Ice volume (model)
- ≈ 0.212 km³ in 2020 (OGGM)
- RGI ids
- RGI60-11.00817, RGI60-11.00819, RGI60-11.00825, RGI60-11.00843, RGI60-11.00878, RGI60-11.00908 …
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/
- GLAMOS (2025). Annual mass balance of Swiss glaciers in 2024/2025. doi.glamos.ch/pubs/annualrep/annualrep_2025.pdf
- GLAMOS (2026). Annual mass balance of Swiss glaciers in 2025/2026. doi.glamos.ch/pubs/annualrep/annualrep_2026.pdf
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.