Twentieth largest glacier in Switzerland; a clean valley glacier with prominent lateral and multiple moraines.

 

Data collected:  88 length measurements over the past 131 years.  From 1859-2010 11 topographic maps were prepared.

 

Studies:  analysis of 11 topographic maps to calculate changes in the glacier such as length and thickness from 1859-2010; radiocarbon dating of soils in lateral moraines; cosmogenic dating of rocks; and mass balance studies showing volume changes.

 

8 advance and retreat cycles have been identified over the past 3,200 years, 4 of which have been dated.

 

Lost over 2 miles of length since the end of the Little Ice Age in 1859.

 

Lost about 205 feet in thickness since 1859.

 

Retreat rates have accelerated from 38 feet/year in 1885-1985 to 141 feet/year from 1985-2016--four times faster.  The retreat rate over the past 16 years was 169 feet/year.

 

Since 1885, 74 out of 88 measurements showed retreat.

 

Both tributary glaciers are disconnected and no longer contribute ice to the valley glacier. The last tributary glacier, shown to the left and above the main valley glacier disconnected in the 1990s.