Researchers say observations made at the end of August indicate that it is highly likely the glacier’s remaining ice will be gone by the end of this year’s melting season.
After 80 years of systematic measurements, scientists are now witnessing not simply the retreat of the Triglav Glacier but potentially its complete disappearance. Miha Pavšek of the Anton Melik Institute of Geography said recent footage shows the last remaining patches of ice rapidly disappearing.
This year’s unusually thin snow cover has left the glacier exposed to melting much earlier and for a longer period than in previous years. The maximum snow depth recorded at the Kredarica weather station during the 2025–2026 winter season was just 220 centimetres, compared with an average of 374 centimetres between 1991 and 2020. Snow cover also disappeared from the station by May 31, while an average of around 1.5 metres of snow remained there on June 1 during the reference period.
The nearby Skuta Glacier in the Kamnik-Savinja Alps is experiencing a similar decline. It has continued to shrink and has broken into several separate ice patches this year.
Researchers say the retreat of both glaciers reflects broader changes across the Alps, which are warming two to three times faster than the global average, with declining snowfall and earlier spring melting.
Long-term observations provide important evidence of this transformation. When systematic measurements of the Triglav Glacier began in 1946, it covered approximately 14 hectares. Researchers have also recently analysed ice cores from the Triglav and Skuta glaciers, finding that ice more than one metre below the surface was over 70 years old, with the results suggesting that the glaciers have experienced negative ice accumulation since the early 1960s.
The retreat is also revealing evidence of a much older past. Scientists have discovered subglacial carbonate formations on newly exposed limestone beneath the Triglav Glacier, with ages ranging from around 1,000 to more than 20,000 years. Some date back to the last glacial maximum, providing evidence of how long parts of the mountain landscape remained protected beneath ice.
As Slovenia’s surface glaciers continue to disappear, researchers are increasingly turning their attention to high-altitude karst ice caves. More than 200 ice caves are known in Slovenia, some containing several metres of permanent ice that preserve information about past climate and environmental conditions. Scientists warn, however, that cave ice is also declining, making the documentation and preservation of these records increasingly urgent.
