Eternal snows affect hydropower, tourism, agriculture, and water resources in many European countries.
According to glaciologists, since 2015, the area of glaciers in Switzerland has decreased by a quarter. More than 1,000 small glaciers in the country have already disappeared.
Swiss scientists reported that this year the country experienced massive glacier melting due to the effects of global warming: the total volume of glaciers in the country decreased by 3%, marking the fourth-largest annual decline in recorded history.
Considering this year's data, the ice mass in Switzerland has decreased by a quarter over the past decade. This is stated in a report by the Swiss glacier monitoring group GLAMOS and the Swiss Academy of Sciences.
"In 2025, glacier melting in Switzerland was again enormous," the scientists said. "A winter with little snow combined with heatwaves in June and August led to a loss of 3% of glacier volume."
Switzerland has about 1,400 glaciers—more than any other country in Europe—and this ice mass and its gradual melting affect hydropower, tourism, agriculture, and water resources in many European countries.
Snowless winter and hot summer
This year, a snowless winter was followed by a June heatwave—the second of its kind in recorded history—resulting in depleted snow reserves by early July. According to scientists, the ice masses began to melt earlier than ever.
"The glaciers are clearly retreating due to anthropogenic global warming," says Matthias Huss, head of GLAMOS, referring to climate changes caused by human activity.
"This is the main reason for the acceleration we have observed in the last two years," added Huss, who is also a glaciologist at ETH Zurich.
Field specialists add that this year the glacier decline began earlier than usual: snow reserves were almost completely exhausted by early July, following an exceptionally hot June.
The retreat and disappearance of glaciers also affect the landscape of Switzerland, causing shifts in mountains and soil instability.
After a massive mass of rock and ice from a glacier collapsed down a mountain slope in May, covering almost the entire southern village of Blatten, Swiss authorities were on heightened alert for such changes.
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