First-Ever Footage of a Full Glacier Detachment: A Scientific Breakthrough in Blatten

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First-Ever Footage of a Full Glacier Detachment: A Scientific Breakthrough in Blatten

One week after the devastating ice-rock avalanche from Birch Glacier and Kleines Nesthorn in Blatten, Switzerland, a remarkable scientific moment has emerged. SRF – Swiss Radio and Television released extraordinary footage capturing the process of glacier detachment in real time—a rare and previously undocumented phenomenon.

EClim’s Christian Huggel highlights the significance of this footage, calling it a “scientific sensation.” It shows:

  • The glacier front beginning to move and accelerate.
  • The upstream glacier mass following like a conveyor belt.
  • The full collapse and downslope movement of the glacier.

📌 Why this matters:

  • These are likely the first images ever recorded of full glacier detachment on Earth.
  • They are invaluable for improving scientific understanding of glacier dynamics, including ice shearing and instability.
  • The footage will help inform computer model development and calibration, supporting hazard forecasting.

Huggel also links these observations to past collapses, such as Kolka Glacier (2002) in the Russian Caucasus and Aru Co twin collapses (2016) in Tibet—previously analyzed in two key studies co-authored with Andi Kääb.

📄 Read the papers:

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