Climate catastrophe: Disconnect glacier in sheets threatens village and nature!

Climate catastrophe: Disconnect glacier in sheets threatens village and nature!

Blatten, Schweiz - On Wednesday afternoon, May 31, 2025, a glacier canceled in Lötschental, Canton of Valais, Switzerland, which spilled parts of the village of Blatten. The incident had dramatic consequences and is another example of the devastating effects of climate change. After the first analyzes at 3:39 p.m., the clipper received a strength of M = 3.1 on the Richter scale, comparable to an earlier event at the Piz Cengalo in 2017, whose strength m = 3.0 measure.

Professor Jan Beutel from the University of Innsbruck, who has been researching in Valais for almost two decades and experts such as Christophe Lambiel from the University of Lausann to the causes of demolition. He emphasizes that climate change causes constant and dramatic changes in the high mountains, even if it is not always directly responsible for specific events. The decline in the ice in the alpine cryosphere therefore leads to erosion through wind and weather.

instability through melting permafrost

According to the bag, the permafrost in the Alps is caused by a rate of about 0.1 degrees Celsius per decade, which can lead to serious loss of stability in the rock mass. Urgent action is necessary, because appearances such as the abortion on the Birch glacier are directly related to the instability of the rock masses. The 500 meter high rock wall above Blatten has proven to be unstable, which heavily burdened the glacier. On Wednesday, around three million cubic meters of rock crashed and led to a degenerate from ice, mud and rubble, which devastated the place.

Beutel and his team have been using GPS measuring devices for the prediction and planning of measures in prevention systems for 12 years. This technology is crucial to promote understanding of the dynamically changed alpine landscapes. The declining glacier area helps to accumulate more and more water in the mountains. The result is an increasing gravity that mobilizes these masses dangerously.

mountains increase

The repeated instability in the Alps is not unique. Similar events, such as a partial fall of the flight horn in the Silvretta Mountains in June 2023, show that the melting permafrost is a rising threat. Experts such as Thomas Figl and Michael Krautblatter warn that rock and mountains will increase at altitudes over 3000 meters, in particular due to the effects of heavy rains. These can accelerate movements in the mountains by five to seven times, which increases the risk of further dropouts.

Incoming investigations also show that the resulting liquefied mass during a clash, through its mobility, merges into water when the agility has a server, and thereby develops enormous devastating forces. While the authorities' approach in Blatten had to be initiated to use violence, early warning systems have already found their way into other areas to better protect mountain tourism and to counteract future floods and falling events.