Follow CIPRA Slovenija for more content about the Slovenian Alps and follow @glacierwatch.bsky.social for more content on Glaciers across Europe!
#Slovenia #Glacierwatch #CIPRA #Glaciers #JulianAlps #Europe #ClimateCrisis
Even as its ice fades, Slovenia’s glacial legacy lives on in the shape of the land: U-shaped valleys, hidden lakes like Bohinj, and rivers that still trace the paths carved by long-lost ice.
Today, that figure is less than 0.2 ha. This dramatic shrinkage shows how sensitive these low-elevation ice bodies are to warming. Their relative loss is faster than for many larger Alpine glaciers.
These aren’t glaciers in the full scientific sense anymore: they lack movement and crevasses and are more accurately described as glacial remnants or ice patches.
In the mid-1800s the ice beneath Slovenia’s highest peak once covered more than 40 ha.
The Julian Alps, part of the Eastern Alps in northwest Slovenia, are home to some of the most iconic mountain scenery in Europe, shaped over millennia by ice and time.
Today, only two tiny ice masses remain in Slovenia: The Triglav Glacier and the Skuta Glacier.
A beautiful aerial view of Lake Bled. Photo by Neven Krcmarek / Unsplash
Triglav in the Julian Alps. Photo by Sébastien Goldberg / Unsplash
An aerial view of the remaining glaciers in Slovenia. Photo by Klemen Tusar / Unsplash
A view of Bohinj lakes with the Alps in the background. Photo by Lea Kobal / Unsplash
In Focus: Slovenia
A collaboration between CIPRA Slovenija and Glacierwatch
Slovenia might seem small on a map, but it carries the essence of Alpine wildness in its dramatic peaks, emerald valleys, and glacial landscapes.
and the profound changes unfolding in Earth’s frozen zones.
🗓 19 March
🕕 18:00–19:15 CET
🌍 Online & UNESCO HQ, Paris
Hosted by Glacierwatch, this conversation invites anyone curious about climate action, artistic practice, and new ways of seeing the crisis we are living through.
On March 19 (18:00–19:15 CET), we move beyond statistics and into story, sound, image and emotion. Together with three artists working across music, poetry and photography, we explore how art becomes climate testimony, how it helps us witness the beauty and fragility of the cryosphere,
A blue-and-white texture, painted on canvas, reminiscent of the deep blue veins of a glacier cave, or a deep sea underneath sea ice. Original artwork by fr0ggy5 / Unsplash, edited by Glacierwatch
#WitnessingtheMelt: Art as Climate Testimony
Glaciers are melting. We know the numbers.
But what does that loss sound like?
What does it look like?
What does it feel like?
Glacier retreat affects water availability, summer stream flows for communities and ecosystems, and the cultural heritage of the range. Follow Glacierwatch to learn more about glaciers and how you can get involved!
#Glacierwatch #Pyrenees #Glaciers #Aneto #MontePerdido #France #Spain #Andorra
Whenever you go, respect fragile landscapes.Always stay on marked trails, don’t walk on ice without proper gear, & support local mountain guides.
These glaciers are living archives, holding snow & climate records spanning centuries. Their loss means lost knowledge about past climate and ecosystems.
Glaciers Aneto, Monte Perdido (Gavarnie), and Ossoue offer breathtaking views and accessible routes, with guides and refuges nearby. The best seasons to visit are late summer to early autumn, when snow is minimal and glaciers are most visible.
The largest glacier, Aneto, has lost roughly 64% of its ice mass since 1981 and could disappear in the 2030s if current trends continue. The total ice area in the range has shrunk by nearly 90% since 1850, with dramatic thinning over recent decades.
The snowy peaks of the French Pyrenees. Photo by Mathieu Odin / Unsplash
The peak of Aneto with its prominent glacier. Photo by Pablosievert / Wikimedia Commons / CC-BY-SA 4.0
A beautiful refuge in the autumnal environment of the Spanish Pyrenees. Photo by Ben Wicks / Unsplash
A spring river bursting down a mountain in the Spanish Pyrenees. Photo by Pedro Sanz / Unsplash
The Last Ice of the Pyrenees
Europe’s southernmost glaciers reside between France, Andorra and Spain
In the mid-19th century, the Pyrenees held about 52 glaciers; today, fewer than ~15 active glaciers remain, and many others are now ice patches, not moving glaciers.
We reaffirm the need for a science that is inclusive, equitable, and diverse. Because the future of our planet depends on it.
#Glacierwatch #EveryVoiceInScience #InternationalDayOfWomenAndGirlsInScience #IDWGS #WomenInScience #WomenInSTEM #Cryosphere #ClimateScience
Their research informs policy. Their data shapes climate action. Their work helps us understand what is at stake and what can still be protected.
On the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, we celebrate their contributions, leadership, and persistence.
A woman on a mountain peak looking onto a glacier. Photo by Patrick Untersee / Unsplash
Women and girls are shaping cryosphere science.
From measuring glacier mass balance in the Alps to drilling ice cores in Antarctica, from modelling future sea-level rise to protecting polar ecosystems: Women scientists are advancing our understanding of ice, climate, and a rapidly changing planet.
For this World Wetlands Day, protecting wetlands without protecting ice is only half the story. The fate of wetlands is written upstream.
#Glacierwatch #WorldWetlandsDay #Wetlands #Cryosphere #ClimateSystems
But faster melt doesn’t mean healthier landscapes – Stability matters. Too much water, too fast (or none at all) leads to erosion, drying, and ecosystem collapse.
But wetlands depend on stability. Gradual glacier melt can sustain wetlands. Rapid glacier loss can overwhelm them. As the cryosphere retreats, wetlands are among the first ecosystems to respond.
Glacial meltwater feeds such diverse ecosystems as alpine wetlands, peatlands, and floodplains. Wetlands are part of the cryospheric system, just further downstream.
Salt marshes under and overcast sky. Photo by Jordan Graff / Unsplash
Arctic tundra with melt pools. Photo by Dmitry Grachyov / Unsplash
A lone tree in a flooded landscape in Snowdonia, UK. Photo by Jack B / Unsplash
An aerial view onto Saskatchewan Wetlands, Canada. Photo by Landon Parenteau / Unsplash
World Wetlands Day - February 2nd 2026
Wetlands are shaped by the cryosphere, even after the ice is gone.
Glaciers don’t just vanish when they melt. Their water becomes wetlands: Slow, living systems that store carbon, reduce floods, and shelter biodiversity.
Greenland’s ice is not remote. It is directly connected to coastal cities, ecosystems, and water security worldwide.
#Glacierwatch #Greenland #KalaallitNunaat #Inuit #Nuuk #ClimateCrisis #NuDetNuuk
The Greenland Ice Sheet stores enough frozen freshwater to raise global sea levels by several meters. As meltwater flows into the ocean, it contributes to sea-level rise and can disrupt major ocean circulation systems that regulate climate far beyond the Arctic.
Its ice sheet holds a detailed archive of past climates, helping scientists reconstruct temperatures, atmospheres, and ecosystems stretching back hundreds of thousands of years. Greenland’s rapidly changing ice tells us not just that the climate is warming, but how fast & with what consequences.
Protecting Greenland means listening to and centering Indigenous voices, because climate justice and Indigenous rights cannot be separated.
Greenland is one of the most important places on Earth for understanding climate change.
Greenland is home to Inuit communities whose cultures, knowledge systems, and livelihoods have evolved alongside ice for millennia. Climate change, extractive industries, and geopolitical interests threaten not just the environment, but Indigenous self-determination and cultural continuity.
Approaching Kapisillit settlement by water. Photo by Conny Kawohl (Glacierwatch)
A Greenland inuit man smiling. Photo by Arian Zwegers / Wikimedia Commons
View towards the ice sheet close to the airport in Kangerlussuaq. Photo by Conny Kawohl (Glacierwatch)
An iceberg in Nuuk harbor. Photo by Conny Kawohl (Glacierwatch)
Greenland - Kalaallit Nunaat
Why its people, ice and water matter to us and our future
Greenland is often reduced to “the big ice sheet”, but it is far more than that. It is a living landscape where ice, ocean, people, and climate are deeply intertwined.
Every green speck on these moraines is a tiny testament to life’s push into the open.
And each one helps us learn how landscapes reshape themselves in a warming world.
#Glacierwatch #Succession #GlacierRetreat #PlantLife #Glaciology #PioneerSpecies
But this emerging world is also a marker of climate change: the pace of glacier retreat determines how much new land is exposed — and how quickly ecosystems must adapt.
