Internewscast Journal
  • Home
  • US News
  • Local News
  • Health
  • People
  • Guest Post
  • Support Our Cause
Internewscast Journal
  • Home
  • US News
  • Local News
  • Health
  • People
  • Guest Post
  • Support Our Cause
Home Local news Swiss Glaciers Reveal Unusual New Occurrence: Swiss Cheese-Like Holes
  • Local news

Swiss Glaciers Reveal Unusual New Occurrence: Swiss Cheese-Like Holes

    Switzerland's ebbing glaciers show a new, strange phenomenon: Holes reminiscent of Swiss cheese
    Up next
    Trump administration to remove protections on 59 million acres of National Forest lands
    Trump Administration Plans to Lift Protections on 59 Million Acres of National Forests
    Published on 25 June 2025
    Author
    Internewscast
    Tags
    • cheese,
    • Climate,
    • ebbing,
    • Environment,
    • glaciers,
    • holes,
    • Matthias Huss,
    • New,
    • phenomenon,
    • reminiscent,
    • Richard Alley,
    • show,
    • Strange,
    • Swiss,
    • Switzerland039s,
    • world news
    Share this @internewscast.com
    FacebookXRedditPinterest

    RHONE GLACIER – Climate change appears to be making some of Switzerland’s vaunted glaciers look like Swiss cheese: Full of holes.

    Matthias Huss from the glacier monitoring team called GLAMOS provided insights into the Rhone Glacier, which is crucial as it supplies the river sharing its name. This river travels through Switzerland and France, eventually reaching the Mediterranean. He relayed these observations to The Associated Press while on a summer expedition aimed at assessing the glacier’s condition.

    Switzerland’s glaciers attracted global attention last month after a mudslide from the Alps covered the southwestern village of Blatten. This incident occurred when the Birch Glacier, which had been holding back rocks near the summit, collapsed and triggered an avalanche that descended into the valley. Thankfully, the village was evacuated in advance.

    Experts say geological shifts and, to a lesser extent global warming, played a role.

    Switzerland, renowned for having more glaciers than any other European nation, has experienced a glacier retreat since about 170 years ago, which showed fluctuating patterns until the 1980s, Matthias noted. However, since then, the retreat has been consistent, with 2022 and 2023 witnessing the most severe declines. Although last year saw some slight improvements, he added.

    “Now, this year also doesn’t look good, so we see we have a clear acceleration trend in the melting of glaciers,” said Huss, who also is a lecturer at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, ETHZ, said in beaming sunshine and with slushy ice dripping underfoot.

    Less snow and more heat create punishing conditions

    The European Union’s Copernicus climate center said last month was the second-warmest May on record worldwide, although temperatures in Europe were below the running average for that month compared to the average from 1991 to 2020.

    Europe is not alone. In a report on Asia’s climate released Monday, the U.N.’s World Meteorological Organization said reduced winter snowfall and extreme summer heat last year “were punishing for glaciers” — with 23 out of 24 glaciers in the central Himalayas and the Tian Shan range suffering “mass loss” in 2024.

    A healthy glacier is considered “dynamic,” by generating new ice as snow falls on it at higher elevations while melting at lower altitudes: The losses in mass at lower levels are compensated by gains above.

    As a warming climate pushes up the melting to higher altitudes, such flows will slow down or even stop altogether and the glacier will essentially become “an ice patch that is just lying there,” Huss said.

    “This is a situation we are seeing more and more often on our glaciers: That the ice is just not dynamic anymore,” he said. “It’s just resting there and melting down in place.”

    This lack of dynamic regeneration is the most likely process behind the emergence and persistence of holes, seemingly caused by water turbulence at the bottom of the glacier or air flows through the gaps that appear inside the blocks of ice, Huss said.

    “First the holes appear in the middle, and then they grow and grow, and suddenly the roof of these holes is starting to collapse,” he said. “Then these holes get visible from the surface. These holes weren’t known so well a few years ago, but now we are seeing them more often.”

    Such an affected glacier, he said, “is a Swiss cheese that is getting more holes everywhere, and these holes are collapsing — and it’s not good for the glacier.”

    Effects felt from fisheries to borders

    Richard Alley, a geosciences professor and glaciologist at Penn State University, noted that glacier shrinkage has wide impacts on agriculture, fisheries, drinking water levels, and border tensions when it comes to cross-boundary rivers.

    “Biggest worries with mountain glaciers may be water issues — now, the shrinking glaciers are supporting summertime (often the dry season) flows that are anomalously higher than normal, but this will be replaced as glaciers disappear with anomalously low flows,” he said in an email.

    For Switzerland, another possible casualty is electricity: The Alpine country gets the vast majority of its power through hydroelectric plants driven from its lakes and rivers, and wide-scale glacier melt could jeopardize that.

    With a whirr of a spiral drill, Huss sends ice chips flying as he bores a hole into the glacier. Then with an assistant, he unfurls a jointed metal pole — similar to the basic glacier-monitoring technology that has existed for decades — and clicks it together to drive it deep down. This serves as a measuring stick for glacier depth.

    “We have a network of stakes that are drilled into the ice where we determine the melting of the mass loss of the glacier from year to year,” he said. “When the glacier will be melting, which is at the moment a speed of about 5 to 10 centimeters (2-4 inches) a day, this pole will re-emerge.”

    Reaching up over his head — about 2.5 meters (8 feet) — he points out the height of a stake that had been drilled in in September, suggesting that an ice mass had shrunk by that much. In the super-hot year of 2022, nearly 10 meters of vertical ice were lost in a single year, he said.

    Some glaciers have gone for good

    The planet is already running up against the target cap increase of 1.5 degrees Celsius in global temperatures set in the Paris Climate Accord of 2015. The concerns about global warming that led to that deal have lately been overshadowed by trade wars, conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East and other geopolitical issues.

    “If we manage to reduce or limit global warming to 1.5 degrees, we couldn’t save this glacier,” Huss said, acknowledging many Swiss glaciers are set to disappear in the future. As a person, Huss feels emotion. As a glaciologist, he is awestruck by the speed of change.

    “It’s always hard for me to see these glaciers melting, to even see them disappearing completely. Some of my monitoring sites I’ve been going to for 20 years have completely vanished in the last years,” he said. “It was very sad — if you just exchange this beautiful, shiny white with these brittle rocks that are lying around.”

    “But on the other hand,” he added, “it’s also a very interesting time as a scientist to be witness to these very fast changes.”

    ___

    Keaten reported from Geneva.

    ___

    The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

    Share this @internewscast.com
    FacebookXRedditPinterest
    You May Also Like
    'Sanctuary' cops refuse to help with Illinois protesters: Feds
    • Local news

    Federal officials claim local ‘sanctuary’ law enforcement won’t assist with Illinois protestors.

    Federal immigration agencies are accusing law enforcement in Illinois of not assisting…
    • Internewscast
    • September 24, 2025
    44 malnourished dogs seized from suspected puppy mill in East Texas
    • Local news

    Authorities Rescue 44 Undernourished Dogs from Alleged Puppy Breeding Operation in East Texas

    TROUP, Texas (KETK)– 44 dogs were seized from an East Texas property…
    • Internewscast
    • September 24, 2025
    NHC watching 2 tropical waves: Where are they headed? | Tracking the Tropics
    • Local news

    NHC Monitors Two Tropical Waves: What Are Their Paths? | Tropical Tracking Update

    TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — The National Hurricane Center is keeping an eye…
    • Internewscast
    • September 23, 2025
    Monticello man pleads guilty, sentenced in fatal hit and run
    • Local news

    Springfield Resident Receives 18-Year Sentence for Murder in Champaign Township

    URBANA, Ill. (WCIA) — Just nine months following a murder incident in…
    • Internewscast
    • September 23, 2025
    Super Typhoon slams into Hong Kong after killing at least 14 in Taiwan
    • Local news

    Super Typhoon Hits Hong Kong After Causing 14 Deaths in Taiwan

    HONG KONG — Streets in southern China were empty on Wednesday as…
    • Internewscast
    • September 24, 2025
    Convicted would-be Trump assassin tries to stab himself with pen after verdict
    • Local news

    Man Found Guilty in Trump Assassination Attempt Tries to Harm Himself with Pen Following Verdict

    The man found guilty of trying to assassinate President Trump while he…
    • Internewscast
    • September 23, 2025
    Sinkhole swallows vehicle and electrical poles
    • Local news

    Massive Sinkhole Engulfs Car and Power Poles

    Our website does not support Internet Explorer 11. For the best experience,…
    • Internewscast
    • September 24, 2025
    Trump reacts to Ryan Routh verdict
    • Local news

    Trump’s Response to Ryan Routh’s Verdict

    IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site…
    • Internewscast
    • September 23, 2025
    Indoor pumpkin patch fun at Nana Ana's Playhouse in Tampa
    • Local news

    Enjoy Indoor Pumpkin Patch Excitement at Nana Ana’s Playhouse in Tampa

    Despite the summer-like conditions outside, Nana Ana’s Playhouse in Tampa is fully…
    • Internewscast
    • September 23, 2025

    Speed Limit Raised on Part of Boones Creek Road

    JONESBOROUGH, Tenn. (WJHL) — The speed limit on a section of Boones…
    • Internewscast
    • September 24, 2025
    Here's the Scoop: President Trump's U.N. speech
    • Local news

    Here’s the Lowdown: President Trump’s United Nations Address

    IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site…
    • Internewscast
    • September 24, 2025
    Statue of Trump and Epstein placed near U.S. Capitol
    • Local news

    Sculpture of Trump and Epstein Installed Close to U.S. Capitol

    Internet Explorer 11 is not compatible with our site. To enjoy the…
    • Internewscast
    • September 24, 2025
    Chicago accepting nominations for official Christmas tree to light up Millennium Park
    • US

    Nominate a Christmas Tree to Illuminate Millennium Park in Chicago

    CHICAGO (WLS) — The city of Chicago is looking for a Christmas…
    • Internewscast
    • September 24, 2025

    Detectives Investigate for Remains of Missing WA Woman in Cold Case

    Cold case detectives are sending cameras down hundreds of mineshafts in WA’s…
    • Internewscast
    • September 24, 2025
    Judge gives Newsom new ways to challenge Trump's authority
    • Crime

    Court Mandates Trump Administration to Clarify Specific Spending Plans

    President Donald Trump addresses the signing of legislation to block California’s…
    • Internewscast
    • September 24, 2025
    Jimmy Kimmel Makes Emotional Return After Suspension
    • Local news

    Jimmy Kimmel’s Heartfelt Comeback Following Suspension

    IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site…
    • Internewscast
    • September 24, 2025
    Internewscast Journal
    • Home
    • Privacy Policy
    • DMCA Notice
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Guest Post
    • Support Our Cause
    Copyright 2023. All Right Reserverd.