Glaciers Melting Fast: Stunning Then-and-Now Ice Transformations

Glaciers are massive rivers of ice that slowly move down mountains, shaping the land and providing fresh water to millions of people. In Switzerland, these glaciers are disappearing at an alarming rate. Matthias Huss, who now leads Glacier Monitoring in Switzerland, remembers visiting the Rhône Glacier as a child. Back then, the ice was just a short walk from the parking lot. Now, it takes half an hour to reach the glacier from the same spot. Every time Matthias returns, he is reminded of how much the glacier has shrunk since his childhood.

This story is not unique to Switzerland. Glaciers around the world are melting quickly. In 2024 alone, glaciers outside Greenland and Antarctica lost 450 billion tonnes of ice, according to the World Meteorological Organization. That is enough water to fill 180 million Olympic swimming pools. Professor Ben Marzeion from the University of Bremen explains that glaciers are now in a climate that is very hostile to them because of global warming. In Switzerland, glaciers have lost a quarter of their ice in just the last ten years. This rapid melting is hard to imagine, but photographs from space and the ground make the changes clear.

Satellite images show that the Rhône Glacier has shrunk dramatically since 1990. Where there was once solid ice, there is now a lake. In the past, losing 2 percent of a glacier’s ice in a year was considered extreme. But in 2022, Switzerland lost nearly 6 percent of its glacier ice in just one year, and the losses have continued in the following years. Regine Hock, a glaciology professor, has been visiting the Alps since the 1970s. She says the changes she has seen in recent years are massive compared to the past. Some glaciers, like the Pizol Glacier, have disappeared completely, which makes scientists like Dr. Huss feel sad.

Looking back in history, glaciers have always grown and shrunk naturally. During the Little Ice Age in the 17th to 19th centuries, glaciers advanced and sometimes threatened villages and farmland. People even believed glaciers were cursed and asked priests to move them away. However, glaciers began to retreat around 1850, which matches the start of industrialization and the burning of fossil fuels. While it is hard to separate natural and human causes from so long ago, scientists are certain that the rapid melting of the last 40 years is not natural. It is caused by human activities, especially the release of carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels.

Even if global temperatures stopped rising today, glaciers would continue to melt for decades because they take a long time to adjust to changes in climate. However, there is still hope. Research shows that if we can keep global warming below 1. 5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, we could save half of the world’s remaining mountain glacier ice. But if the world continues on its current path, we could lose three-quarters of the ice by the end of the century. This would raise sea levels and threaten coastal communities.

The loss of glaciers will also have a big impact on people living in mountain regions. Glaciers act like natural reservoirs, storing water as snow and ice in the winter and releasing it as meltwater in the summer. This meltwater is crucial for drinking, farming, and producing electricity. Without glaciers, rivers will have less water during hot, dry summers. This is especially serious in Asia, where about 800 million people rely on glacier meltwater, particularly in the upper Indus river basin. In some places, glacier meltwater is the only source of water for months.

Scientists feel a mix of sadness and hope when they think about the future of glaciers. They know that if we reduce our carbon footprint and use less fossil fuel, we can still save some glaciers. The fate of the world’s glaciers is in our hands, and the choices we make now will decide how much ice remains for future generations.