Global Glacier Extinction Explorer launched to map melting ice

An international research team, led by ETH Zurich and Vrije Universiteit Brussel, has launched the ‘Global Glacier Extinction Explorer’, an interactive web platform designed to project the future of individual glaciers worldwide. Based on a study published in Nature Climate Change, the tool allows users to visualize when specific glaciers might disappear under various global warming scenarios.

The platform maps approximately 200,000 glaciers, providing localized data that helps communities understand the potential impact of rising temperatures on their specific regions. Lead author Lander Van Tricht noted that glacier extinction is not a distant threat but an ongoing process, stating, ‘Behind every disappearing glacier, there is a place, a story, and often a community that will experience its absence.’

In the European Alps, models suggest more than 50 percent of glaciers could vanish within roughly two decades. The study defines a glacier as extinct once it loses 99 percent of its original volume or its surface area falls below 10,000 square meters. Recent observations indicate that some Alpine glaciers, such as Bella-Tola in Switzerland, are already meeting extinction criteria.