VAW Glaciology
@vaw-glaciology.bsky.social
1.3K followers 55 following 190 posts
This is the voice of ETH Zurich's Glaciology group (Prof. Farinotti), jointly affiliated to @wslresearch.bsky.social.
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vaw-glaciology.bsky.social
The world beneath the ice is a magical place, full of light reflections and twinkling frozen crystals. ❄️
Read about #VAW PhD student Leo Hösli’s ice cave research in #SAC Die Alpen: www.sac-cas.ch/de/die-alpen...

⚠️ Ice caves are temporary and collapse.
vaw-glaciology.bsky.social
[2/2] This year’s melt was driven by a snow-poor winter and summer heatwaves. Glaciers below 3k m lost over 2 m of ice. Shrinking glaciers also destabilize mountains, as seen in May, when a rock–ice avalanche buried Blatten in the Lötschental.

🔗 to #GLAMOS report: doi.glamos.ch/pubs/annualr...
vaw-glaciology.bsky.social
[1/2] 📢 GLAMOS @scnat.ch press release out today: Swiss glaciers lost another 3% of their volume in 2025, the 4th-largest decline ever measured. In just 10 years, they’ve lost a quarter of their ice mass. Over 1k small glaciers have already vanished.

🔗 to press release: scnat.ch/en/uuid/i/9d...
vaw-glaciology.bsky.social
[2/2] More on this story tomorrow in the #GLAMOS press release (01.10.2025).

And don’t miss the #SRF Einstein documentary on 02.10.2025, featuring the making-of our repeat photography.

@matthias-huss.bsky.social

#Glacier #ClimateChange #RepeatPhotography
vaw-glaciology.bsky.social
[1/2] Sometimes pictures say more than 1,000 words.
This repeat photography of Birchgletscher (1927–2025) shows a century of change, ending in this year’s tragic collapse that destroyed Blatten and claimed one life.

📷 1927 vs 2025
vaw-glaciology.bsky.social
New paper by colleagues at @unil.bsky.social (with our participation): 4D GPR imaging of a near-terminus glacier collapse feature. Drone-based radar reveals how cavities & subglacial channels evolve at the Rhône Glacier. 📖

tc.copernicus.org/articles/19/...
vaw-glaciology.bsky.social
Fresh #snow is visible on several of our #glaciers through the real-time stakes, and more is on the way. ❄️ Winter is coming, marking an important recovery phase for glaciers after the (big) summer melt.
vaw-glaciology.bsky.social
🇨🇭 All #GLAMOS measurements on Swiss #glaciers are now in. The analysis is underway, and on October 1 we will release the full report for 2024/25. Stay tuned!
📸 Images: REUTERS / Denis Balibouse
vaw-glaciology.bsky.social
Incredible ice loss measured again at #Konkordiaplatz on the #Aletsch #Glacier, home to the thickest ice in the #Alps (still about 800 m!). Yesterday’s survey revealed another –4.6 m of ice gone in just one year. :(
Measurements by @matthias-huss.bsky.social for GLAMOS
vaw-glaciology.bsky.social
#IMC2025 is in full swing in #Innsbruck! You can meet us at several sessions throughout the week, looking forward to many inspiring science discussions!
vaw-glaciology.bsky.social
Thanks to Gonzalo Gonzales de Diego for this week’s Glaciological Seminar on viscous contact problems, time-dependent flows where ice detaches/reattaches to bedrock. Key insights into subglacial cavities, grounding lines & numerical methods for modelling sliding and cavitation. 🧊💦
vaw-glaciology.bsky.social
🎉 Congrats to our #VAW colleague & postdoc @landervt.bsky.social, on making
HUMO’s 30 under 30 list alongside Remco Evenepoel & Jade Mintjens! 🌍❄️ A well-deserved honor for his scientific achievements. #30under30 #ScienceCommunication #glaciology #HUMO
vaw-glaciology.bsky.social
Ever wondered what glaciologists actually do behind the scenes? 🧊⛏️

We’re launching The Glaciologist’s Logbook, short reels showing our day-to-day work.

First up: ice thickness drilling on #Titlis glacier.

🎥 by Dominika Teluchova

#VAW #Glaciology #Engelberg #Titlis #ScienceCommunication
vaw-glaciology.bsky.social
#GLAMOS measurements have started last week with measurements on Rhone, Allalin, Corvatsch & Murtèl. Stay posted for the press release via @scnat.ch on 1st of October on the 2025 situation of #Swiss #glaciers.
matthias-huss.bsky.social
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
vaw-glaciology.bsky.social
Greetings from Marijn van der Meer at the #Ellis Summer School in Jena 🇩🇪! She presented her work on the #MassBalanceMachine. The school brings together AI & climate science & is co-organised by top institutes & supported by @climatechangeai.bsky.social, @esa.int Academy & more.
vaw-glaciology.bsky.social
🌍 Even the most resilient glaciers aren’t safe. New research from our Austrian colleagues & contributions from #VAW member @marinkneib.bsky.social shows Central Asia’s glaciers may have hit a tipping point in 2018 after decades without data.
istaresearch.bsky.social
Are we witnessing the beginning of the end of the last resilient glaciers?
Glaciers in Central Asia seemed to resist climate change, but the fall of the Soviet Union meant no data for decades. A new study in @commsearth.nature.com​ shows a likely tipping point in 2018.
🔗 https://bit.ly/3UVN28s
📸 © Jason Klimatsas
vaw-glaciology.bsky.social
⛏️ How does mining-driven ice removal affect glacier evolution? In a new study led by #VAW colleague @landervt.bsky.social, we model 🇰🇬 Davydov Glacier (1850–2100), which lost huge ice volumes through a combination of mining & climate change. 👉 lnkd.in/eru5Xgur
vaw-glaciology.bsky.social
That’s a wrap! This year's #Fieldcourse in Glaciology on #RhoneGlacier was a great success. Despite some tricky weather in the beginning, it turned out great. Huge thanks to all students and #VAW team members for their dedication and enthusiasm!
vaw-glaciology.bsky.social
Congrats to #VAW member Aaron Cremona on successfully defending his PhD yesterday! 🎉 An excellent presentation, followed by an even tougher “exam” of yoga poses & Kovacs mounting, both passed with style. Well deserved, Aaron! 👏
vaw-glaciology.bsky.social
On 28 Aug 2025, our new exhibition Deglaciation – Measuring the Ice opens at extract (ETH Zurich Collections & Archives). Join the vernissage at ETH Zurich, HG E7, 17:30 with remarks by Prof. Farinotti & team + apéro.

📍 ETH Zurich, HG E7 (Main Building)
🗓 28 Aug 2025, 17:30
vaw-glaciology.bsky.social
Recent @glamos.bsky.social fieldwork on the #PlaineMorte glacier by @matthias-huss.bsky.social confirms what our models had already indicated: massive ice loss caused by the August heatwave in Switzerland. Even when expected, it is still striking, and sobering, to witness a glacier in its final days
vaw-glaciology.bsky.social
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This fresh process-scale view helps close gaps in ice-front ablation budgets and improves understanding of tidewater glacier retreat.
📄 Calving-driven fjord dynamics resolved by seafloor fibre sensing (Nature)
Read the paper here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com
vaw-glaciology.bsky.social
2/3
They discovered iceberg calving doesn’t just break ice, it amplifies submarine melting.
How? Calving triggers local tsunamis + internal gravity waves, stirring the fjord and speeding up melt at the glacier front. ⚡🌊
vaw-glaciology.bsky.social
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🚨 Published today in @nature.com!
We’re thrilled to celebrate the latest work by our colleague Dominik Gräff, with contributions from D. Farinotti & R. Moser 🎉
Using seafloor fiber-optic sensing, his team watched Greenland’s glaciers calve in real time & found something surprising 🌊🧊
📸: D. Gräff
Frontal view of a boat from land with a glacier and a fjord environment in the background.