Matthias Huss

Hunting the extreme year 2022... Yes, I'm really worried about the current state of Swiss #glaciers! After a dry winter, the scorching heat of the last weeks pushes glaciers towards another black year. Hoping for some cooling but the summer has only just started @VAW_glaciology

Great Aletsch #Glacier - what a beauty 😍 Melting at the glacier terminus is incredible though this year as reported by measurements by @pronaturach Already over 7️⃣ meters of ice loss since Oct 2024, with considerable melt also in winter.

What drives seasonal glacier mass balance in the Swiss Alps? A new preprint by #VAW PhD student Aaron Cremona (et al.) explores 2010–2024 trends using remote sensing, modeling & ML. 🇨🇭 Swiss glaciers lost an astonishing 25% of their 2010 ice volume! 🧊 📄 doi.org/10.5194/egusph…

A 26-day period of exceptionally high temperatures will end tomorrow, 4 degrees above normal. Swiss #glaciers have lost an enormous amount of water during this time: it is equivalent to 🇨🇭's total annual drinking water use, and more than twice the average of the last years...

A VAW team was out on #Griesgletscher yesterday, a chance to raise awareness for the #1400ReasonsToAct challenge by @POWSwitzerland. Glaciers are in bad shape this year. Cooler conditions can’t come soon enough. Take action here: 1400-reasons-to-act.ch #KeepSwissGlaciersCool

Some cooling within the #glacier ice - this is what is urgently needed these days... On Jungfraujoch, there has been no warmer June since at least 90 years than in 2025! @meteoschweiz Glaciers are in a deplorable state - as if they even need more attention in their @UN Int. Year

🚨 New paper alert! Glaciers in Western Canada, Switzerland & the conterminous US lost twice as much ice from 2021–2024 compared to the previous decade. Heatwaves + dust & wildfire impurities drove extreme melt. Co-authored by #VAW member @matthias_huss ❄️🌍

Snow situation on Konkordiaplatz, Great Aletsch #Glacier, by 29 June 2019-2025. Exchanging white snow with dark bare ice. This is really bad! And there's still up to 100 days to go in the melt season. Will we reach the all-time record of 2022? I hope not...! @AletschArena_ch

One month ago, Birchgletscher collapsed and erased the village of Blatten. A disastrous event that will keep Switzerland busy for a long while... @swisstopo images 👇 show the #glacier front began to advance in 2020, indicating a growing instability - a precursor of the event

The tongue of Rhone #Glacier ten days after my last visit. Can you guess how much ice melted away? 1️⃣ meter in terms of thickness! 1️⃣0️⃣ days... And that's just the beginning of the summer season. We know the times are bad for the ice, but still it is hard to accept these numbers!

The beauty of a #glacier at sunrise descending down into the valley. You may not realise that this view is dramatic, and not just gorgeous: Glacier retreat is immense, and there's very little snow this June... Pic taken from Piz Languard on 22 June 2025

Konkordiaplatz on Great Aletschgletscher is now snow-free... A bit later than 2022 but earlier than 2023 (year with second-most highest ice loss). It hurts to see #glaciers entering a summer with massive ice losses again! And no cooling is in sight @glamos_ch @VAW_glaciology

Snow has gone on Säntis* mountain in Switzerland - climate normal is 250 cm at this time of the year. * snow gauge is located some 270m below the summit at 2230m since 1981