Glaciers are natural archives of past climate, but as the planet warms, some of these records are melting away.

One such archive is the Corbassière glacier in Switzerland. The high-altitude glacier is situated on the flanks of Grand Combin, one of the highest peaks in the western Alps. It has suffered the same fate as many alpine glaciers in Switzerland, which collectively have lost more than half of their volume since the 1930s. Some of the more recent changes at Corbassière glacier are visible in these images, captured 2001 and 2023. They were acquired by Landsat 5 and Landsat 8, respectively. In just over two decades, Corbassière has shrunk in area and surface mass. The glacier was darker in 2023 due to lack of snow, and the glacier’s tongue had retreated.

Ice cores taken from glaciers around the world can provide clues about past environmental conditions thousands of years ago. In a new study, scientists found evidence that previous melting of the glacier’s surface between 2018 and 2020 likely penetrated the glacier layers below. This melting rendered the core unusable in the team’s research, and other attempts to core the glacier had the same result. The valuable information stored in the ice was destroyed.

Video Description:
Two alternating satellite images of the Corbassière glacier in Switzerland. In the first image from 2001, the glacier looks covered by a powdery white layer. The surrounding landscape is bumpy with areas of dark green. In the second image from 2023, the glacier is now mostly brown. The powdery white layer is gone. The surrounding landscape is bumpy with areas of brown and dark green.

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