From Switzerland to Iceland, glaciers show how dramatically climate change is progressing. The UN day of action calls for action.
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- Glaciers around the world are melting at an alarming rate and losing hundreds of billions of tons of ice every year.
- Three glaciers particularly affected - Aletsch, Gepatschferner and Vatnajökull - are shrinking drastically, threatening water supplies, energy production and geological stability.
- World Glacier Day calls for global action, as glacier melting is a silent but powerful warning signal of the climate crisis.
«The era of global warming is over; the era of global cooking has arrived.»
António Guterres
UN National Secretary
On today's World Glacier Day, a silent but dramatic symptom of the climate crisis is coming into focus: global glacier melting. Glaciers store around 70 percent of the world's fresh water and provide water for millions of people - but they are melting faster than ever before.
Over 9,000 billion tons of ice have already been lost since 1975, with around 450 billion tons lost in 2024 alone. All 19 glacier regions observed worldwide have recorded a net loss.
"What we are experiencing is not a natural cycle - it is a clear sign of man-made climate change," says glaciologist Dr. Lisa Frei from the University of Zurich.
These three glaciers are in trouble:
The melting heart of the Alps
At around 20 kilometers long, the Aletsch Glacier in the Swiss canton of Valais is the largest glacier in the Alps. But even this giant is not immune: since 2000, it has lost over 3 kilometers in length. In hot summers like 2022, it melted by over 100 meters in places. Researchers warn that the Aletsch could largely disappear by the end of the century - even with moderate warming.
Austria's second largest glacier in retreat
In the Austrian Tyrol lies the Gepatschferner, once a majestic mass of ice in the Ötztal Alps. It is currently losing more than 30 million cubic meters of ice every year. Its melting not only threatens the local water supply, but also hydroelectric power generation in the region. The Kaunertal power plant is directly dependent on the glacier's meltwater - a resource that is increasingly drying up.
Iceland's ice giant is shrinking
With an area of around 8100 square kilometers, Vatnajökull is the largest glacier in Europe outside the polar region. But even this giant is steadily losing mass. Since 1995, it has lost around 15 percent of its volume. Active volcanic systems lie beneath the ice sheet - the melting could also increase seismic activity in the long term and destabilize the balance of the Icelandic landscape.
What remains: A call for global action
World Glacier Day calls for glaciers to be seen not just as a melting wonder of nature, but as a warning signal. Their melting ice documents the failure of political climate promises in real time.
The editor wrote this article with the help of AI.