Glacier de la Plaine Morte
Plaine Morte 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 rare plateau glacier, almost flat, which makes it especially vulnerable: it has hardly any high ground to retreat to. An ice-dammed lake at its eastern edge flooded Lenk in 2018.
Glacier de la Plaine Morte is the 27th-largest glacier in Switzerland, covering 7.32 km² in the canton of Bern. Its ice spans 2,477 to 2,957 m and faces north-west. Its meltwater drains to the Rhine and on to the North Sea. In 1850, at the end of the Little Ice Age, it covered 11.50 km²; by 2016 it had lost 36% of that area. Its tongue has been measured 75 times since 1925. In total it has retreated 1,175 m, about 11.9 m a year. Its mass balance has been measured since 2010: on average −1.80 m of water equivalent per year, with the most negative year in 2022 (−4.03 m). Between 1985 and 2023 its surface dropped by 50 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 2065. Its meltwater is projected to peak around 2039.
In pictures
What remains in 2100
Meltwater
Million m³ of water per year, 11-year mean
The record
Length change since 1925
Position of the glacier tongue, measured in the field almost every year. Hover for each measurement.
Mass balance 2010–2025
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 1985
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
- A55f-03
- Canton
- Bern
- River
- Rhine → North Sea
- Basin
- Kander & Simme
- Location
- 46.3810° N, 7.5100° E · swisstopo map
- Elevation
- 2,477–2,957 m, median 2,722 m
- Slope, aspect
- 6°, north-west
- Debris cover
- 0.11 km² (2% of the area)
- Inventory image
- 2016
- Ice volume (model)
- ≈ 0.806 km³ in 2020 (OGGM)
- RGI ids
- RGI60-11.02072, RGI60-11.02124, RGI60-11.02131
More in the Kander & Simme basin
- Kanderfirn N11.97 km²
- Wildstrubelgletscher2.34 km²
- Blüemlisalpgletscher2.23 km²
- Balmhorngletscher1.28 km²
- Schwarzgletscher1.14 km²
- Gamchigletscher1.07 km²
- Ammertegletscher E0.89 km²
- Doldenhorngletscher E0.81 km²
- Lötschegletscher0.73 km²
- Lämmerengletscher0.57 km²
- Fründengletscher0.56 km²
- Morgenhorngletscher0.51 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/
- Ogier et al. (2021). Drainage of an ice-dammed lake through a supraglacial stream: hydraulics and thermodynamics. The Cryosphere 15. tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/5133/2021/tc-15-5133-2021.html
- Huss et al. (2013). Implications of climate change on Glacier de la Plaine Morte, Switzerland. Geographica Helvetica 68. doi.org/10.5194/gh-68-227-2013
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.