WATCH: Before and after images show glaciers vanishing before our eyes, glacier loss (Switzerland & Global) 5/Oct/2025 Mark 1333 channel report transcript below
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Today, the ice is half an hour from the same spot and the scene is very different, recalls Matthias, now director of Glacier Monitoring in Switzerland (GLAMOS).There are similar stories for many glaciers all over the planet, because these frozen rivers of ice are retreating- fast. "It's really difficult to grasp the extent of this melt," explains Dr Huss. But photos- from space and the ground- tell their own story. Satellite images show how the Rhône Glacier has changed since 1990, when Dr Huss first visited. At the front of the glacier is a lake where there used to be ice.
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talk about warming temperatures now 0:01 because the rapid decline of 0:03 Switzerland's glacias was laid bare this 0:06 week after a new report showed that 0:07 they'd lost 3% of their ice in the last 0:10 year alone. 0:11 Yes, it suggests that many of the 0:13 country's smaller glacias won't survive 0:16 our current level of warming, but 0:18 scientists hope that rapid action could 0:20 help to preserve what is left. Our 0:23 climate reporter Mark Pointing has more. 0:28 The iconic mountain landscapes of 0:30 Switzerland are changing before our 0:32 eyes. This is Greece Glacia in 1919. 0:36 Here it is today. Where once there was 0:39 thick ice, there is now a lake. Dramatic 0:42 changes at Persacia and Mortarach Glacia 0:46 too. And at the largest alpine glacia of 0:48 them all, the great Allet. What was once 0:52 frozen is now trees. 0:54 certainly a sense of of sadness because 0:58 um I love the mountains, I love the 1:00 glaciers. So as a person I I feel sad 1:03 when I see this uh this appearance, this 1:05 change. But on the other hand, it's also 1:08 a really fascinating time as a as a 1:10 scientist. 1:11 Switzerland's glacias were roughly 1:13 stable between 1950 and the early 1980s. 1:17 Since then, they've lost almost half of 1:19 their ice. 1:21 UN scientists say the main reason for 1:23 the rapid reductions in glacier ice 1:25 worldwide over the past few decades is 1:27 clear. It's humancaused climate change. 1:31 Imagine this staircase is our valley. 1:34 Here's our glacia. Higher up, it's 1:37 colder. That's where ice is made from 1:39 snowfall. Lower down, it's warmer. 1:43 That's where most of the melting 1:44 happens. In a stable climate, the ice 1:46 gained roughly balances the ice lost. 1:50 But in our warming climate, the melting 1:52 outpaces the snowfall. That's why we see 1:54 glacias shrinking around the world. 1:57 In historical records, of course, there 1:59 have really been massive changes. The 2:01 glaciers in the Alps, they covered 2:03 essentially the Alps and went way into 2:05 Germany. So the the glaciers have been 2:08 much much larger. But what what we see 2:11 now is really massive changes within a 2:14 few years. And we know we can attribute 2:18 much of it to anthropogenic climate 2:20 warming. So that's also it's really 2:23 human human nature. 2:26 The disappearance of glacias adds to 2:28 global sea levels and threatens the 2:30 water supplies of millions of people 2:32 around the world. 2:35 And while many smaller glacias won't 2:37 survive our current level of warming, 2:39 scientists are crystal clear that sharp 2:41 cuts to carbon emissions can still save 2:44 much of the world's ice and preserve at 2:47 least some of these pristine mountain 2:49 views. Mark pointing, BBC News. 2:53 Well, we can now speak to Professor Ben 2:56 Matsion, a climate scientist at the 2:58 University of Bremen in Germany. It's 3:00 very good to have you with us. Um, do 3:02 you think there's a danger that we are 3:05 entering a world in which all glasses 3:07 could disappear? 3:09 Well, it depends on which mountain range 3:11 you look at. For the Alps, we are 3:12 certainly um close to that possibility 3:14 that all ice disappears. But if you're 3:17 thinking of, for example, high mountain 3:18 Asia, some of the mountains are so high 3:20 that there will be a little bit of ice 3:22 left even if the world warms by, let's 3:24 say, three or four degrees. 3:26 And so, what would the impact be for 3:30 nature? And indeed for us as 3:31 individuals, 3:33 well, I would say mostly there are two 3:35 impacts. One is sea level rise. So sea 3:37 level is already rising quite quickly 3:39 and it will accelerate over the next 3:41 couple of decades. Of course, depending 3:43 on how much CO2 we we emit and a lot of 3:45 that sea level rise is coming from 3:47 melting ice in the mountains. Uh and the 3:49 second really important thing is 3:51 seasonal water availability. So there 3:53 are some regions in the world where 3:54 during summertime when it's really dry 3:56 and warm, most of the water is really 3:58 coming from the ice that is melting 4:00 during summer. You know, ice that was 4:02 accumulated in the glacia centuries ago 4:06 um and now providing water for 4:07 agriculture industry and households. 4:09 And Ben, it can be hard to get a sense 4:11 of the scale of this. We mentioned that 4:14 this report has shown that uh 4:16 Switzerland's glacias have lost 3% of 4:18 their ice in the past year. How worrying 4:22 is that for you? 4:24 Well, it's very worrying, I would say. 4:26 Um, you know, Switzerland is extreme in 4:29 that sense that 3% per year is a lot 4:32 compared to what is happening elsewhere 4:33 in the world. But we now are actually in 4:35 a state where the globe is really losing 4:37 ice everywhere. So, no matter where you 4:40 look, everywhere the glaciers are 4:41 melting and that is quite worrying. 4:44 And how much of this is something that 4:47 we as people can reverse? I mean is it 4:50 is it inevitable? 4:52 Um to some degree it's already 4:54 inevitable and the reason for that is 4:56 that glaciers are responding with a lag 4:58 to climate change. So the glaciers are 5:00 now responding to CO2 that we emitted 5:02 decades ago. You know let's say 50 years 5:04 ago and they are still responding to 5:06 that and they will keep responding to 5:08 the CO2 that we are emitting right now. 5:10 But we are also seeing that there's a 5:12 very strong and clear relation between 5:13 the amount of CO2 we emit and the amount 5:16 of ice that remains in the mountains. We 5:18 just have to be quite patient to see the 5:20 results when we are really cutting 5:22 carbon emissions. 5:23 And presumably the action we take can 5:27 halt the disappearance or or slow the 5:29 melting of the glacias. But presumably 5:31 they get does it get to a point where it 5:34 could be too late if uh once they've 5:36 gone because presumably it's impossible 5:39 for them to to to sort of reform. 5:43 Well, I mean, it's not completely 5:44 impossible for them to reform, but we 5:46 really would have to cool down the 5:48 climate for that. It's not enough to 5:50 just stop global warming. We really 5:53 would have to make it cooler than it is 5:55 right now to actually have them regrow. 5:57 And I don't really see that happening. 6:00 Okay. Uh, Professor Ben Matsion, climate 6:03 scientist at the University of Breman in 6:05 Germany. Thank you very much. Thank you.***
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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. That's equivalent to a block of ice 7km (4.3 miles) tall, 7km wide and 7km deep- enough water to 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 have been particularly badly hit, losing a quarter of their ice in the last 10 years, measurements from GLAMOS revealed this week.
