Swiss glaciers 1850–2100

Homattugletscher N

IceIce lost since 1850This 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. This glacier has no model run of its own; its future follows the typical path of glaciers its size.

Inventory 0.164km² Area in 2016 · ±0% compared with 2016
Area 20160.16km²531st largest
Elevation2,955–3,354mmedian 3,193 m
Length1.1kmfaces west
Area since 1850−82%0.90 km² in 1850
Thinning 1985–2023−12maverage surface lowering

Homattugletscher N is one of 1,400 glaciers in Switzerland, covering 0.16 km² in the canton of Valais. Its ice spans 2,955 to 3,354 m and faces west. Its meltwater drains to the Rhône and on to the Mediterranean. In 1850, at the end of the Little Ice Age, it covered 0.90 km²; by 2016 it had lost 82% of that area. Between 1985 and 2023 its surface dropped by 12 m on average. No glacier model run exists for it; on the map it follows the typical path of glaciers its size.

Measured

The record

Thinning since 1985

Average change in surface height, from comparing elevation models made from maps, aerial images and laser scans.

−12 m−10 m−8 m−5 m−2 m0 m1990200020102020−12 m
GLAMOS Swiss Glacier Volume Change, release 2025.
Profile

Facts

Area over time

18500.900 km²19310.794 km²19730.342 km²20160.164 km²2050 · SSP2-4.50.000 km²2100 · SSP2-4.50.000 km²

Past areas are the ice body this glacier belonged to at the time. Projections: OGGM median, SSP2-4.5.

SGI id
B47-05
Canton
Valais
River
Rhône → Mediterranean
Basin
Goms
Location
46.2420° N, 8.0810° E · swisstopo map
Elevation
2,955–3,354 m, median 3,193 m
Slope, aspect
25°, west
Debris cover
none mapped
Inventory image
2017
Sources

Sources

  1. Linsbauer et al. (2021). The new Swiss Glacier Inventory SGI2016. Frontiers in Earth Science 9. doi.org/10.3389/feart.2021.704189
  2. 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
  3. GLAMOS – Glacier Monitoring Switzerland. www.glamos.ch

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.

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