Tipping Point Arrives Early for Switzerland's Glaciers

Switzerland's glaciers have hit their annual "glacier loss day"—when winter's snow and ice are gone—weeks earlier than usual, according to Glacier Monitoring in Switzerland. The 2024 tipping point arrived on July 4, the second-earliest date on record, raising concerns among scientists about the speed of the glaciers' retreat. As the summer heat intensifies, scientists warn that every day from now means further, unsustainable loss for Switzerland's shrinking glaciers, reports AFP. Typically, glacier loss day falls in mid-August. Its early arrival this year signals that any further melting through October will directly shrink the glaciers.

GLAMOS chief Matthias Huss explains that if the glaciers were healthy, this day would come at the end of September or not at all. Instead, the season for mass loss is now dramatically longer. Glaciers in the Swiss Alps have been retreating for about 170 years, but the pace has accelerated with climate change. Since 2000, they've lost 38% of their volume. Last winter's low snowfall and the second-warmest June on record contributed to this year's early tipping point. Only 2022 saw glacier loss day arrive earlier, and researchers had considered that year an outlier—until now.

Extreme glacier melt sets off a feedback loop: As white snow cover disappears, darker ice surfaces absorb more heat, leading to even faster melting. Experts warn that continued heat waves this summer could lead to further losses. Huss says the early arrival of the tipping point is "another alarm call." "It's like the glaciers are shouting out: 'We're disappearing. Help us,'" he says. (In May, a glacier collapse flattened a Swiss mountain village.)