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Swiss glaciers lose more than 5% of their ice in a year, threatening water supplies
October 1, 2026
Switzerland's glaciers shed more than 5% of their ice over 2026, a Swiss monitoring report finds, just short of the 2022 record.
GLAMOS, the Swiss Glacier Monitoring Network, measures the country's glaciers each year with the Swiss Commission for Cryosphere Observation.
Reuters reports that Swiss glaciers shed more than 5% of their ice over 2026, citing a joint report from GLAMOS and a cryosphere commission at the Swiss Academy of Sciences. Reuters ties the melt to a winter with little snow followed by record summer heat, and adds that the Aletsch Glacier had its largest melt on record while Glacier de Tsanfleuron thinned by more than four meters (13 feet) on average. Huss said, “We are seeing extreme years almost every year now and this is really a worrying situation.”
The Guardian carries the same findings and puts the cumulative loss since 2021 at 19.4%, with average glacier thickness down by 2.5 metres to 4 metres this year. Both Reuters and The Guardian say the annual loss falls just below the 2022 record, which Reuters links to Saharan dust from North Africa darkening the snow that year. The Guardian adds Huss's account of glaciers caving in from within as meltwater streams hollow out the ice, and that the former Plattalvafirn lost 99% of its area in 20 years. Huss said, “These are processes that tear the glaciers apart and make them retreat even faster.”
The BBC reports an estimated 5.5% loss and turns to what the melt means for water: meltwater feeds irrigation, hydropower and shipping in hot, dry spells, and the Rhine hit record lows in places this summer. Huss said, “It's helping us [now] but it's unsustainable, so we won't have it at [our] disposal in the next heatwave.” The three outlets agree on the scale of the loss and its causes. The count of small glaciers lost this year is still open, since the scientists have yet to compile one.
Still developing
The account of how Swiss glaciers started the summer was still forming as of the time of this draft.
How settled the reporting is
Sources
- Reuters — Swiss glaciers lose more than 5% of ice after record heatwave - Daily Maverick
- BBC — Swiss glaciers suffer 'disastrous' year of ice loss, threatening water supplies
- The Guardian — ‘Explosion of melt rates’: 20% of Swiss glaciers lost in five years
Toggle read the full reports of all 3 outlets counted on this event.