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Did you know that Switzerland’s glaciers have lost almost a third of their remaining ice mass since the year 2000? Or that the Great Aletsch Glacier stores around 20% of Swiss glacier ice? Or that the Great Aletsch Glacier stores around 20% of Swiss glacier ice?
Information on glacier extent and ice thickness can now be accessed on the federal government’s map platform, map.geo.admin.ch. Parameters such as area, volume or the maximum and average ice thickness for the individual glaciers can be called up. The data allow forecasts of expected glacier retreat, water runoff or the assessment of glacier-related natural hazards.
The glacier inventory of the Glacier Monitoring in Switzerland GLAMOS serves as the data basis. In addition, a helicopter-based radar system was developed in a multi-year project at ETH Zurich to measure ice thickness.