Triftgletscher
Trift 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.
Its retreat left the Triftsee, a new lake crossed by one of the highest pedestrian suspension bridges in the Alps. The basin is a proposed site for a new hydropower dam.
Triftgletscher is the 10th-largest glacier in Switzerland, covering 14.56 km² in the canton of Bern. Its ice spans 1,680 to 3,386 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 19.56 km²; by 2016 it had lost 26% of that area. Its tongue has been measured 48 times since 1861. In total it has retreated 4,392 m, about 26.9 m a year. Between 1861 and 2024 its surface dropped by 53 m on average. With strong climate protection (SSP1-2.6), about 14% of its 2020 ice would remain in 2100. With very high emissions (SSP5-8.5) it would be gone around 2071. Its meltwater peaked around 2023.
In pictures
What remains in 2100
Meltwater
Million m³ of water per year, 11-year mean
The record
Length change since 1861
Position of the glacier tongue, measured in the field almost every year. Hover for each measurement.
Thinning since 1861
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
- A54e-24
- Canton
- Bern
- River
- Rhine → North Sea
- Basin
- Upper Aare
- Location
- 46.6480° N, 8.3790° E · swisstopo map
- Elevation
- 1,680–3,386 m, median 2,936 m
- Slope, aspect
- 20°, north
- Debris cover
- 0.33 km² (2% of the area)
- Inventory image
- 2016
- Ice volume (model)
- ≈ 0.841 km³ in 2020 (OGGM)
- RGI ids
- RGI60-11.01198, RGI60-11.01208
More in the Upper Aare basin
- Unteraargletscher22.70 km²
- Gauligletscher10.83 km²
- Unterer Grindelwaldgletscher9.17 km²
- Oberer Grindelwaldgletscher8.33 km²
- Obers Ischmeer E7.34 km²
- Steigletscher5.56 km²
- Rosenlouwigletscher5.39 km²
- Tschingelfirn S (Kandersteg)5.05 km²
- Oberaargletscher3.95 km²
- Rottalgletscher (Lauterbrunnen)3.62 km²
- Breithorngletscher (Lauterbrunnen)2.53 km²
- Hengsterengletscher NE1.71 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/
- Wikipedia. Trift Bridge. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trift_Bridge
- Gemeinsame Erklärung des Runden Tisches Wasserkraft (2021). www.newsd.admin.ch/newsd/message/attachments/69601.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.