Wächselgletscher
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.
Wächselgletscher is one of 1,400 glaciers in Switzerland, covering 0.49 km² in the canton of Bern. Its ice spans 2,328 to 3,129 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 0.63 km²; by 2016 it had lost 22% of that area. Between 1973 and 2018 its surface dropped by 11 m on average. With strong climate protection (SSP1-2.6), about 11% of its 2020 ice would remain in 2100. With very high emissions (SSP5-8.5) it would be gone around 2058. Its meltwater peaked around 2007.
What remains in 2100
Meltwater
Million m³ of water per year, 11-year mean
The record
Thinning since 1973
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
- A54l-23
- Canton
- Bern
- River
- Rhine → North Sea
- Basin
- Upper Aare
- Location
- 46.6070° N, 8.0890° E · swisstopo map
- Elevation
- 2,328–3,129 m, median 2,736 m
- Slope, aspect
- 34°, north
- Debris cover
- none mapped
- Inventory image
- 2015
- Ice volume (model)
- ≈ 0.009 km³ in 2020 (OGGM)
- RGI ids
- RGI60-11.01318
More in the Upper Aare basin
- Unteraargletscher22.70 km²
- Triftgletscher14.56 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
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.