When Matthias Huss first visited Rhône Glacier in Switzerland 35 years ago, the ice was just a short walk from where his parents would park the car.
When I first stepped onto the ice... there [was] a special feeling of eternity, says Matthias.
Today, it's half an hour from the same parking spot and the scene is very different.
Every time I go back, I remember how it used to be, recalls Matthias, who is now director of Glacier Monitoring in Switzerland (GLAMOS), how the glacier looked when I was a child.
Similar stories can be found for many glaciers around the world as these frozen rivers of ice are retreating rapidly.
In 2024, glaciers outside the giant ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica lost 450 billion tonnes of ice, according to a recent World Meteorological Organization report — a staggering amount that could fill 180 million Olympic swimming pools.
Glaciers are melting everywhere in the world, says Prof Ben Marzeion of the Institute of Geography at the University of Bremen. They are sitting in a climate that is very hostile to them now because of global warming.
Switzerland's glaciers are particularly affected, losing a quarter of their ice in the last decade, measurements from GLAMOS confirm.
Dr. Huss explains that it's hard to grasp the extent of this melting, but photos from space and the ground illustrate the story clearly.
Satellite images comparing the Rhône Glacier from 1990 to today show an astounding transformation where once there was ice now stands a glacial lake.
Until recently, glaciologists considered a loss of 2% of ice in a year to be extreme. However, in 2022, nearly 6% of Switzerland's remaining ice was lost in just one year, marking a dramatic evolution in the crisis.
The situation continues to worsen, with significant losses reported in 2023, 2024, and into 2025.
Regine Hock, a professor of glaciology at the University of Oslo, states the changes observed are stunning, as massive changes now occur within just a few years.
Images of Clariden Glacier reveal a dramatic retreat from equilibrium, melting rapidly since the advent of the 21st century.
For smaller glaciers like the Pizol Glacier, the situation has become too dire. This is one of the glaciers that I observed, and now it's completely gone, lamented Dr. Huss.
The Gries Glacier has retreated by approximately 2.2 km (1.4 miles) in the last century, where once a thriving glacier stood remains only a sizeable glacial lake today.
As the climate advances, the largest glacier in the Alps, the Great Aletsch, has receded by 2.3 km (1.4 miles) in the last 75 years, with trees now growing where glaciers once existed.
Historically, glaciers have grown and shrunk naturally, experiencing advancement in colder periods, primarily during the Little Ice Age in the 17th century to the 19th century. However, the retreating patterns observed since 1850 align closely with the rise of industrialization and fossil fuel combustion.
The rapid losses of the past four decades are unequivocally linked to human-induced climate change.
Without human contributions to global warming, tanks full of water — glaciers — would be expected to remain stable.
Professor Marzeion notes that, regardless of any future stabilization of global temperatures, the glaciers will continue to retreat for decades due to their delayed response to climate shifts. A large part of the future melt of the glaciers is already locked in, he confirms.
Nevertheless, hope remains viable. Research indicates that half of the glacier ice could be preserved if global warming is limited to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels. However, current global trajectories suggest a warming of about 2.7C by century's end, leading to more severe ice loss.
This water resource depletion threatens both mountain communities reliant on glaciers for fresh water and coastal populations facing rising sea levels.
Ultimately, as glacier losses continue, vital freshwater sources disappear, affecting agriculture, hydropower, and water supply across regions, particularly in Asia's mountainous zones. Up to 800 million people depend on glacier meltwater, specifically for agriculture.
Professor Hock aptly summarizes the challenge: It’s sad, but empowering. We have the power to take action and preserve what remains.
