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Glaciers halve in volume

Wednesday, 24 August 2022 06:30

Theodul glacier, Matterhorn

A new study is showing the volume of glaciers in Switzerland has halved between 1931 and 2016.

Researchers from ETH Zurich and Federal Institute for Snow and Landscape shows there’s been a significant retreat in the 20th century – and that it’s accelerating.

While glaciers did reduce between 1920 and 1980 – it wasn’t every year.  But since that time, the glaciers have got smaller every year.

The study used over 21,000 photographs taken from 1916 and 1947.

Not all glaciers reduced at the same rate – it depended on the shape and the amount of debris on the surface. 

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