IN BRIEF
More than 5% of the remaining volume of Swiss glaciers disappeared in 2026.
Cumulative loss over five years has reached nearly 20%.
Some smaller glaciers have disappeared completely and permanently.
WHY IT MATTERS
The important number is not only how hot the year was: it measures how much of the physical ice stock no longer exists.
Lost ice can temporarily raise summer river flow, but it reduces the stored reserve available to contribute water in future years.
WHAT IS NOW POSSIBLE
The state of the Swiss cryosphere moved materially again: more than 5% of remaining glacier volume was lost in one year, pushing five-year loss close to 20% and converting some small glaciers from retreating to disappeared.
WHAT MADE IT POSSIBLE
The GLAMOS network measures mass balance, thickness and geometric change across Swiss glaciers each year, allowing the 2026 loss to be placed against a long-term monitoring record.
THE STORY
In 2026 Swiss glaciers did not merely retreat: in twelve months they lost more than one-twentieth of all the ice volume that remained. New Glacier Monitoring Switzerland measurements put the national loss above 5%.
The change is starker over a longer window. Nearly 20% of Swiss glacier volume has disappeared in five years. Some smaller glaciers have crossed an irreversible threshold on human timescales and are now gone completely.
Winter 2025-2026 was among the ten least snowy since measurements began. Hot, dry conditions then persisted from May to September; for 76 days the freezing level rose above 4,000 metres, more than twice the average and a Swiss record.
From July through September, melting released about 2,200 billion litres of water, more than four times Swiss households' annual drinking-water use. That can temporarily ease summer shortages, but the contribution declines as the glacier reserve itself shrinks.
This is therefore a measured physical state change, not a forecast: Switzerland has materially less glacier ice than it had one year ago. The figure does not imply that every glacier region in the world is losing ice at the same rate.
WHAT WE KNOW
National glacier-volume loss in 2026 exceeded 5%. [1][2][3][4]
Cumulative loss over the last five years is close to 20%.
Several small glaciers have disappeared completely.
The GLAMOS annual report is identified by DOI 10.18752/annualrep_2026.
WHAT WE DON'T KNOW
Future rates depend on temperature, winter snowfall and the climate trajectory.
The Swiss percentage cannot be transferred directly to other glacier regions.
The future contribution of glaciers to rivers changes as available glacier area and volume decline.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
Annual measurements will show how much of the remaining ice survives future winters and summers and how glacier contribution to Alpine river basins changes.
SOURCE TRACE
Swiss glaciers lost more than 5% of their ice volume in 2026.
Nearly 20% of Switzerland's glacier volume disappeared over the five years ending in 2026.
Some smaller Swiss glaciers have completely and permanently disappeared.
From July through September 2026, Swiss glacier melt released about 2,200 billion litres of water.
SOURCES
- Devastating year for Switzerland’s glaciersOpen source
- PublicationsOpen source
- Swiss glaciers lose over 5% of ice volume in 2026 as heat waves, low winter snow accelerate thawOpen source
- A fifth of Swiss Alpine ice has vanished in five yearsOpen source
CURRENT EVIDENCE
VALIDATED EVIDENCE
Measured annual mass-balance assessment for Swiss glaciers in hydrological year 2025/2026.
WHAT WOULD CHANGE THIS?
- A revision of the GLAMOS annual report that materially changes the 2026 mass-balance estimate.
- New multi-year measurements showing substantial stabilization of Swiss glacier volume.