[2/2] This year’s melt was driven by a snow-poor winter and summer heatwaves. Glaciers below 3k m lost over 2 m of ice. Shrinking glaciers also destabilize mountains, as seen in May, when a rock–ice avalanche buried Blatten in the Lötschental. 🔗 to #GLAMOS report: doi.glamos.ch/pubs/annualr...

[1/2] 📢 GLAMOS @scnat.ch press release out today: Swiss glaciers lost another 3% of their volume in 2025, the 4th-largest decline ever measured. In just 10 years, they’ve lost a quarter of their ice mass. Over 1k small glaciers have already vanished. 🔗 to press release: scnat.ch/en/uuid/i/9d...

“This year turned out to be a little less extreme than we feared", says Matthias Huss, director of GLAMOS. “However, what worries me is that we’re getting used to these very negative years. It’s a new normal, but one that shouldn’t be there.” @matthias-huss.bsky.social @vaw-glaciology.bsky.social

Holcim holds the first line of defence for all companies worldwide whose business harm the climate.

Residents of Pulau Pari, a small island in Indonesia, accuse Swiss cement giant Holcim of contributing to the climate crisis that threatens their existence. ‪@ecchr.bsky.social‬ @sabincenter.bsky.social‬

Residents of Pulau Pari, a small island in Indonesia, accuse Swiss cement giant Holcim of contributing to the climate crisis that threatens their existence. ‪@ecchr.bsky.social‬ @sabincenter.bsky.social‬

In Switzerland, it’s worth taking extra care when moving house or clearing out a flat: it’s not uncommon to find a Vreneli hidden away in a drawer, a bag or even in the lining of an old coat.

The worst disaster in Swiss history, in which 88 people perished after two million cubic metres of ice and debris plunged onto a dam construction site, was dismissed as an “unforeseeable event”. Sixty years after the Mattmark tragedy, the survivors’ memories persist.

Twenty years after the “flood of the century”, the Swiss approach to hazard insurance, based on solidarity, could inspire other countries dealing with increasingly frequent disasters.

“We now better understand what happens when ice falls into the sea: it not only breaks off, but also increases melting below the water’s surface,” says Andreas Vieli, professor of glaciology at ‪@ethz.ch‬ @vaw-glaciology.bsky.social‬

The @ametsoc.org State of the Climate Report for 2024 is now published: doi.org/10.1175/2025... I am happy to have contributed again to this year's issue - see our section in 'The Arctic' chapter: doi.org/10.1175/BAMS... Another historic year for Earth's climate... 🚨

World electricity consumption for air conditioning will triple by 2050, the ‪@iea.org‬ predicts. In the future, air conditioners worldwide will use as much electricity as China consumed in all of 2018.

The pharmaceutical industry is a major driver of the Swiss economy, but its strength has also made it a key vulnerability for Switzerland in trade talks with the US.

The Swiss pharmaceutical sector is in Trump’s crosshairs. Here’s the story of one of the industries that has contributed to Switzerland’s prosperity.

As the United States cuts funding for science and threatens universities, many researchers are looking to relocate, and Europe is rolling out the red carpet. Switzerland, however, is not trying to woo them.

“The risk of use of nuclear weapons is higher now than it has ever been,” says Melissa Parke, executive director of ICAN, a Geneva-based organisation that won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017 for its role in advancing the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

What do an orphan from Lucerne and a geologist from Western Switzerland have in common? A fascination with mysterious creatures.

In 1969, Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne spent six weeks in Zurich – a formative time for the young band, who honed their style in marathon sessions.

Climate change is putting glacier tourism at risk. A vital industry for local communities could disappear. A researcher at the University of Lausanne has come up with solutions to ensure this doesn’t happen. @unil.bsky.social‬

East Africa’s tropical glaciers, from Kilimanjaro to Mount Kenya, are disappearing due to climate change. What does this mean for the continent’s water supply?

The need for energy security and cleaner energies in the face of global warming are putting nuclear energy back on the agenda of some countries. @greenpeace.eu‬

#Debris #Flows often cause death and devastation. A research team has precisely measured these flows. The study reveals previously unexplained factors and helps to take #Protective #Measures. @eth-eaps.bsky.social

‪Elizaveta Sharaborova, a PhD researcher at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), is working on a project to prevent or delay permafrost thawing by using underground cooling pipes. @pyrn-official.bsky.social‬

Climate misinformation is ‘muddying waters’ and delaying urgent action, experts warn

In Switzerland, climate warming is proceeding twice as fast as the global average. @wmo-global.bsky.social‬

This is the collapsing terminus of Rhone #glacier yesterday - retreating out of its proglacial lake. Impressive changes going on during the heat wave! We measured almost 3 meters of ice melting over the last 4 weeks... This is 10 cm of ice layer removed every single day!!

Research projects in Switzerland are opening new possibilities in natural hazard monitoring. @wslresearch.bsky.social‬ ‪@ethz.ch‬

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!

From rails to lakes, here are some of the most curious and promising places to gather solar energy, according to the Swiss.

Two weeks after a massive landslide wiped out most of the mountain village of Blatten in the Swiss Alps, talk of reconstruction is picking up, but huge challenges remain.

There has been a huge outpouring of solidarity in Switzerland for the people of Blatten. Yet debate around the cost of protecting mountain villages has also arisen – tactlessly fast.

Most people would prefer if CO2 removal were free. But removing CO2 from the atmosphere and storing it permanently is complicated and expensive, says Swiss climate scientist Cyril Brunner. ‪@brunncy.bsky.social‬

On May 28 a huge chunk of a glacier in the Swiss Alps collapsed, causing a deluge of ice, mud and rock to bury most of the mountain village of Blatten in canton Valais. Here’s a look at some of the biggest landslide disasters in Swiss history.

100 years of changing June sea ice... Total reconstructed data set is only available from 1850 through 2017. Summary of methods: www.carbonbrief.org/guest-post-p...

Iceland’s glaciers are melting so fast that future generations may wonder how the country got its name.

“People living in the mountains and satellite data can provide valuable information. But it’s impossible to monitor every rock face in Switzerland.”, says Mylène Jacquemart, researcher in glaciology at @ethz.ch‬ and @wslresearch.bsky.social‬.

Again a tough year ahead for Swiss glaciers? ❄️ Winter 2025 snow data from GLAMOS is in: a 13% snow deficit nationwide, but with big regional differences. A sharp contrast to 2024’s +31% surplus, yet even then, #glaciers still lost mass. Full results in the report 👇 doi.glamos.ch/pubs/winterr...

Switzerland’s abundant water resources do not make it immune to drought.

Winter #snow measurements on #glaciers for 2025 in the frame of GLAMOS are completed. Read our report on the results 👇 There's a 13% glacier snow deficit Swiss-wide, with strong spatial variability though. Another difficult year for glaciers ahead... doi.glamos.ch/pubs/winterr...

“Sadly, what has been happening since noon on January 20th has only made eventual deployment (of SRM) more likely,” says @gwagner.com.

Cape Town, South Africa, will host the largest conference to date on SRM on May 12-16.

RECOMMENDED LISTEN: A Mongabay podcast interviewed biological oceanographer Dr John Ryan, who explained why listening to whales' songs is important for their conservation. 🎧 @mongabay.com @mikedigirolamo.bsky.social

Oceans are now storing 90% of the excess heat from global warming. This has led to a mass coral bleaching event starting in 2023 that has impacted almost 84% of the world's reefs. “Coral reefs probably won't survive much above 1.5°C of global mean warming”, @billhare.bsky.social told @cnn.com

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Sun-Ways believes that solar panels could be installed on half the rail lines in the world.

The farmers’ lawsuit in Switzerland “is interesting because it is turning the tables on this framing by arguing that farmers can also be the victims of climate change,” says Emily Bradeen, a policy analyst at @granthamlse.bsky.social. @cohelongo.bsky.social

Of the 14 tropical glaciers that existed in Colombia at the beginning of the 20th century, only six remain today. The last to completely melt, the Conejeras Glacier, disappeared just over a year ago.