The last gasp of the Pyrenees glaciers: 93% have already disappeared, experts warn

A thinning tongue of ice, squeezed between the rocks as in a last, desperate struggle for survival. It is the image of the Petit Vignemaleone of the last glaciers in the Pyrenees, destined to disappear within a few years. His agonydocumented by glaciologists and mountain guides, it is the tangible reflection of climate change.

An accelerated disappearance

Since the 19th century, 93% of the glacial surface of the Pyrenees has already been lost. Between 2020 and 2023, according to a Franco-Spanish study published in Spinger Nature, glaciers recorded a 40% surface loss, going from 238 to 143.2 hectares.

In the same period, eight of them were downgraded to simple ice sheets due to their fragmentation. The average thickness has also reduced, with an annual loss of 2.52 metres, three times higher than in the previous decade.

“Hot summers and increasingly drier winters are accelerating the process,” Pierre René explained to the online newspaper Vert. For experts, the survival of glaciers is now unlikely in the medium term. “Within fifteen years, perhaps even sooner, there will be no more glaciers in the Pyrenees,” warns the glaciologist.

An ecosystem in danger

The loss of glaciers is not just an aesthetic or symbolic issue: it has knock-on consequences on mountain ecosystems. Their disappearance will lead to a reduction of biodiversity, altering natural balances which have developed for millennia.

Pierre Bogino, a mountain guide who has been observing the change in the mountains for years, expressed his concern: “The mountain is increasingly grey. We see the loss of significant elements of the landscape in a very short time.” Even professions linked to the high mountains are suffering a direct impact: historic routes on ice have transformed into unstable screes, increasing the risk of landslides and reducing the safety of climbers.

Glacial memory: a warning for the future

Pierre René dedicated twenty years of his life to studying the glaciers of the Pyrenees, trying to preserve their memory. With his association Moraine, documented the evolution of these white giants through mapsphotographs and tables. “Glaciers are the mirror of the climate,” he points out. Their disappearance makes visible the effects of climate change, which are too often ignored.

Despite their importance, the Pyrenean glaciers have not been monitored as carefully as the Alpine ones. Their small size has led to scientific disinterestleaving gaps in the data. Today, thanks to the work of Pierre René and other researchers, these gaps are slowly closing, but time is against them.

A look at the future

2025 has been proclaimed by the United Nations as the “International Year for Glacier Conservation”, an attempt to raise awareness around the world of the urgency of action. However, for the Pyrenees it may already be too late. The hope is that this crisis can serve as a warning, pushing to save other glaciers in less exposed mountains.

“Glaciers are symbols, informants”concluded René. “Their disappearance is a huge detail in the midst of global climate change, but it must serve to shake consciences.”