Firnalpeligletscher NW
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.
Firnalpeligletscher NW is one of 1,400 glaciers in Switzerland, covering 0.42 km² in the canton of Obwalden. Its ice spans 1,935 to 2,579 m and faces north. Its meltwater drains to the Rhine and on to the North Sea. In 1850, at the end of the Little Ice Age, it covered 0.75 km²; by 2016 it had lost 44% of that area. Its tongue has been measured 23 times since 1894. In total it has advanced 43 m, about 1.4 m a year. Between 1967 and 2021 its surface dropped by 21 m on average. With strong climate protection (SSP1-2.6), about 4% of its 2020 ice would remain in 2100. With very high emissions (SSP5-8.5) it would be gone around 2049. Its meltwater peaked around 2005.
What remains in 2100
Meltwater
Million m³ of water per year, 11-year mean
The record
Length change since 1894
Position of the glacier tongue, measured in the field almost every year. Hover for each measurement.
Thinning since 1967
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
- A51h-14
- Canton
- Obwalden
- River
- Rhine → North Sea
- Basin
- Reuss
- Location
- 46.7720° N, 8.4430° E · swisstopo map
- Elevation
- 1,935–2,579 m, median 2,325 m
- Slope, aspect
- 29°, north
- Debris cover
- 0.00 km² (1% of the area)
- Inventory image
- 2016
- Ice volume (model)
- ≈ 0.002 km³ in 2020 (OGGM)
- RGI ids
- RGI60-11.01030
More in the Reuss basin
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.