Lower Grindelwald Glacier on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
, photo = UntererGrindelwaldgletscher 01.jpg
, photo_caption = Above the glacier lake the scrawny leftovers of the former much larger Lower Grindelwald Glacier (dark, polluted part) directly below of the blue-white ''Ischmeer'' (lit.: Ice Sea) and the 
The Lower Grindelwald Glacier yet has a major tributary, the Ischmeer ( Swiss German for ''Ice Sea'', formerly known as ''Grindelwald-Fiescher Glacier'', german: Grindelwald-Fieschergletscher), which is the glacier overlooked by the 
Swiss glacier monitoring network
Glaciers of the canton of Bern Glaciers of the Alps Grindelwald GLowerGrindelwald {{Bern-glacier-stub
Fiescherhörner
Grosses Fiescherhorn is a mountain peak of the Bernese Alps, located on the border between the cantons of Bern and ValaisValais, halfway between the Mönch and the Finsteraarhorn. At above sea level, its summit culminates over the whole Fiesch ...
( a.s.l., The Horns of Fiesch). On the very right a nameless peak () and the Ostegg
The Eiger () is a mountain of the Bernese Alps, overlooking Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen in the Bernese Oberland of Switzerland, just north of the main watershed and border with Valais. It is the easternmost peak of a ridge crest that extends a ...
(, lit.: Eastern Corner), two peaks of the Hörnli, the eastern extension of the Eiger. On the left and above the glacier lake the green ''Bänisegg'' behind which the glacier's connection to its source used to be. View from ''Bäregg'' (, lit.: Bear's Corner). This valley used to be filled with ice as thick as up to (picture from July 2009).
, type = Alpine
, location = Canton of Berne
The canton of Bern or Berne (german: Kanton Bern; rm, Chantun Berna; french: canton de Berne; it, Canton Berna) is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. Its capital city, Bern, is also the ''de facto'' capital of Switzerland. ...
, Switzerland
, coords =
, area =
, length =
, elevation_max =
, elevation_min =
, terminus = glacier lake (Weisse Lütschine (a tributary of the Schwarze Lütschine))
, thickness =
, status = fast retreating
, map = Switzerland#Alps
, label_position = top
, map_alt =
, map_caption =
, embedded =
The Lower Grindelwald Glacier (german: Unterer Grindelwaldgletscher) is a Glacier
A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as ...
in the Swiss Bernese Alps
, topo_map= Swiss Federal Office of Topography swisstopo
, photo=BerneseAlps.jpg
, photo_caption=The Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau
, country= Switzerland
, subdivision1_type= Cantons
, subdivision1=
, parent= Western Alps
, borders_on=
, ...
, situated to the south-east of Grindelwald
, neighboring_municipalities = Brienz, Brienzwiler, Fieschertal (VS), Guttannen, Innertkirchen, Iseltwald, Lauterbrunnen, Lütschental, Meiringen, Schattenhalb
, twintowns = Azumi, now Matsumoto (Japan)
Grindelwald is a village and ...
. It starts below the Agassizhorn and the Strahlegghörner and is connected with the Finsteraar Glacier
The Unteraargletscher (), literally "Lower Aare-Glacier", is the larger of the two sources of the Aare river in the Bernese Alps. It emerges from the association of the Finsteraargletscher (near the Finsteraarhorn) and the Lauteraargletscher (n ...
via the Finsteraarjoch ().
The Lower Grindelwald Glacier yet has a major tributary, the Ischmeer ( Swiss German for ''Ice Sea'', formerly known as ''Grindelwald-Fiescher Glacier'', german: Grindelwald-Fieschergletscher), which is the glacier overlooked by the Jungfrau Railway
The Jungfrau Railway (german: Jungfraubahn, JB) is a mountain railway in the Bernese Alps, connecting Kleine Scheidegg in the Bernese Oberland to the Jungfraujoch, across the Valais border. The railway, which uses a and racks, runs from the s ...
's Eismeer railway station
Eismeer railway station ( German for ''Ice Sea'') is an underground railway station bored into the mountain Eiger on the Jungfrau Railway, which runs to the Jungfraujoch from Kleine Scheidegg. It lies at an altitude of 3,159 metres above sea le ...
.
The Lower Grindelwald Glacier was about long and covered an area of in 1973. The glacier has significantly shrunk since, having a length of just in 2015, with most of the retreat () happening since 2007.
In the middle of the 19th century it clearly reached into the valley of Grindelwald as far as ''Mettenberg'' at an altitude of , an eastern quarter of Grindelwald, near the conjunction of the Schwarze and Weisse LütschineNot to be mismatched with the Weisse Lütschine in the Valley of Lauterbrunnen. In 1900 it still reached as far as ''Rote Fluh'' () and filled the entire valley of its current end, the glacier lake, with a thickness of about up to an altitude of , just below the current hiking path around the Bänisegg. Around 2000 it still reached into the gorge between the Hörnli (Eiger) and Mättenberg.
The Lower Grindelwald Glacier should not be confused with the Upper Grindelwald Glacier, situated to its north-east. The Grindelwald-Fiescher Glacier should not be confused with the like-named Fiescher Glacier, to the south of the Fiescherhorn.
See also
* List of glaciers in Switzerland * List of glaciers *Retreat of glaciers since 1850
The retreat of glaciers since 1850 affects the availability of fresh water for irrigation and domestic use, mountain recreation, animals and plants that depend on glacier-melt, and, in the longer term, the level of the oceans. Deglaciation occu ...
* Swiss Alps
References
External links
Swiss glacier monitoring network
Glaciers of the canton of Bern Glaciers of the Alps Grindelwald GLowerGrindelwald {{Bern-glacier-stub