European Alps
Cumulative length
change (m)
Glaciers in the European Alps reached their recent max-
Pizol
imum extent around 1850
104–106
. The overall area loss
0
area: 0.21 km2
length: 0.60 km
since then is estimated to be about 35 per cent until the
1970s, when the glaciers covered a total area of 2 909
km
2
, and almost 50 per cent by 2000
19
. Total ice volumes
in 1850, the 1970s and 2000 are estimated to be about
-500
200 km
3
, 100 km
3
and 75 km
3
, respectively
19
. Observa-
tions show intermittent glacier re-advances in the 1890s,
Trient
1920s and 1970–1980s
107–109
(Figure 6B.13). After 1985
area: 6.40 km2
length: 4.90 km
an acceleration in glacial retreat has been observed, cul-
-1 000
minating in an annual ice loss of 5–10 per cent of the
remaining ice volume in the extraordinarily warm year
of 2003
110
. The strong warming has made disintegration
and downwasting increasingly predominant processes -1 500
of glacier decline during the most recent past
111
.
Grosser Aletsch
area: 87.7 km2
length: 24.0 km
-2 000
Figure 6B.13: Glacier front variations in the European Alps. -2 500
Large Alpine glaciers have retreated continuously since the mid-
19th century, whereas steep mid-sized glaciers reacted with re-
advances in the 1890s, 1920s and between the 1970s and1980s
due to the somewhat cooler and wetter periods. Small glaciers
feature a high annual variability with a clear shrinking trend.
-3 000
Source: Data from the World Glacier Monitoring Service, Zurich, Switzerland 1880 1920 1960 2000
136 GLOBAL OUTLOOK FOR ICE AND SNOW