The trend is negative. Because the Marmolada glacier is retreating and shrinking. Compared to last year, its extent has decreased by 9 hectares, that is 83 currently versus 92 last year and “far from” the 100 of 2023, on the western front, a retreat of 120 meters in two years was recorded in one signal. This emerges from the eighth edition of the Participatory Glaciological Campaign on the Marmolada promoted by the Geography Museum of the University of Padua, which saw the collaboration of researchers from the University of Padua, Arpav, the Italian Glaciological Foundation, students, and volunteer citizens from four different regions. “The 2026 campaign – the promoters emphasize – allowed us to collect updated data, essential to continue monitoring what remains of the main glacier of the Dolomites and better understand the impact of climate change on a local scale.”
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The data collected this year, as emphasized by Mauro Varotto, professor at the Department of Historical, Geographical and Ancient Sciences and scientific manager of the campaign, “worsen the trend already evident in recent decades, marking a new negative record of glacier surface reduction, which in one year lost 9 hectares dropping to a total of 83 hectares compared to 92 last year.” “This is a record loss that we had only recorded in 2022 – he points out reporting the results of the analysis conducted on satellite images by Francesco Ferrarese -, with the tragic collapse of the glacier. If summers like the one just passed repeat, the glacier could have only about ten years of life.” About thirty people participated in the monitoring activities carried out on the glacier, aged from 16 to 75, including expert hikers, teachers, but also simple enthusiasts and curious people. “Overall, the frontal measurements record a tripled retreat compared to last year, – 23 meters on average – emphasizes Giovanni Benetton, this year responsible for measurements for the Italian Glaciological Foundation – and the most dramatic situation is that of the western front where in one signal we recorded a retreat of 120 meters in two years, with a front altitude now over 2900 meters. The glacier is completely devoid of residual snow and the only snow remaining is now that under the geotextile tarps.”
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Then there is the temperature factor. “The summer of 2026 turned out to be the warmest at altitude in the Dolomites at least since 1991, surpassing in persistence and average temperatures even that of 2003 – comments Gianni Marigo of Arpav -. Taking August as an example, the deviation from the averages was more than 3 degrees Celsius. In the month, in Marmolada, at the Arpav Punta Rocca station at 3250 meters, only on 3 days was a negative minimum observed (-0.6°C absolute value) and no day with a negative average temperature was recorded.” Not only that: “The intense ablation processes of the glacier have thus continued – he continues -, and no snowfall occurred even at the highest altitudes; similarly, the degradation of the permafrost continued, and at the Piz Boè station there is no frozen ground at any depth.” To emphasize the educational aspect of the campaign and at the same time the importance of glaciers Alberto Lanzavecchia of the University of Padua. And therefore the importance of observing the site, among the 150 that the Italian Glaciological Foundation “monitors” every year. “2026 is proving to be a record year also on an Alpine scale, with glacier thickness losses in this sector tripled compared to the average of the last decade and with winter snow already exhausted by the end of July, weeks before usual – concludes the manager for Triveneto, Aldino Bondesansi -. In mid-August, in Marmolada, surveys showed crevasses above the detachment niche of 2022 filled with meltwater, the same condition that our studies had identified as the cause of the collapse.”
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