Matthias Huss
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matthias-huss.bsky.social
Matthias Huss
@matthias-huss.bsky.social

glaciologist @ethzurich and @wslresearch.bsky.social, head of GLAMOS, passionate about mountains

Environmental science 39%
Geology 32%

Like pulling the plug of a bathtub: an incredible mass of #glacier ice disappearing at Griesgletscher (🇨🇭/🇮🇹) in one century.
It felt emotional to visit the exact same spot @swisstopo cartographers chose in 1919. The view was so different.
Simply unbelievable!!
@vaw-glaciology.bsky.social

Reposted by Richard Waite

Remember the catastrophic rock-ice avalanche of Blatten 🇨🇭 this May?
This incredible image comparison shows like nothing else the darkening of mountain peaks.
And along with the disappearance of snow, ice and permafrost, new hazards come along
@vaw-glaciology.bsky.social

110 years ago, glaciologists climbed up to Claridenfirn 🇨🇭 to start the longest measurements of #glacier mass balance worldwide.
Yesterday morning, the scene looked so different! Still beautiful, but the ice got slim... Almost sentimental to see another crazy year up there

Some more impressions from our GLAMOS @vaw-glaciology.bsky.social measurement campaign today. The landscape is simply awesome but the change from year to year is hard to take.

One more year: Ice loss at Konkordiaplatz on Aletsch #Glacier is just... wow 😲 Minus 4.6 metres of ice.
Will there ever be a call:
"Make Aletsch Great Again"?
It would be about time

We discontinued mass balance measurements on the small St. Annafirn in 2023 as the #glacier was on the verge of disappearing and rockfall hazard became too high.
A good decision: a massive landslide occurred this Sunday covering the entire glacier 👇
www.ur.ch/mmdirektione....

This #glacier encountered during our late-summer fieldwork looks like a wounded animal.
Deep scars in its surface are indicative of the processes of internal decay. This is widespread now in the Alps.
A sad sight for a glaciologist...

Reposted by Trudy Harpham

It's the time of the year GLAMOS measurements on around 20 Swiss #glaciers start. We've been on Rhone, Allalin, Corvatsch, ... these days.
Not all as shiny white as here! Major losses also in 2025. Stay posted for the press release via @scnat.ch on 1 Oct
@vaw-glaciology.bsky.social

Interestingly, a tiny piece of dead ice of the former Pizolgletscher still withstands the warming, covered by rock debris and not recognisable as ice anymore.
@vaw-glaciology.bsky.social

These small vanishing glaciers may not appear to be relevant (water, sea level rise) but they represent, or represented, an essential element of the alpine landscape with important links to local tourism and slope instabilities.

Did you know that already more than 1000 glaciers have disappeared in Switzerland over the last 50 years as a consequence of human-caused climate change?

One of those is Pizolgletscher which I visited today. Always a saddening yet impressive sight...

Reposted by Ricard V. Solé

Reposted by Matthias Huss

Some impressions from the bottom of the now-empty Lac de Faverges

A hole in the #glacier ice... Nature is just incredible.
We were at Glacier de la Plaine Morte today for GLAMOS measurements. Bad situation, as expected. Major mass loss has already occurred and melting continues at crazy rates. Wow, let's see where this is ending...

Getting used to this image: #glaciers almost completely naked - unprotected by the white snow - in August...
While July was good for glaciers after record-melt in June, the new heat wave again results in major ice loss
@vaw-glaciology.bsky.social

Great Aletsch #Glacier - what a beauty 😍
Melting at the glacier terminus is incredible though this year as reported by measurements by @pronaturabl.bsky.social
Already over 7️⃣ meters of ice loss since Oct 2024, with considerable melt also in winter.