Polythermal conditions in small glaciers in the Swiss Alps

Beer, Janosch; Jacquemart, Mylène; Huss, Matthias; Santin, Ilaria; Clara Racz, Gabriela; Ogier, Christophe; Gindraux, Saskia; Hösli, Leo; Moser, Raphael; Irving, James; Fischer, Mauro; Farinotti, Daniel

doi:10.5194/tc-20-5453-2026

Articles | Volume 20, issue 9

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-5453-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-5453-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 20, issue 9

Research article

|

23 Sep 2026

Research article |

| 23 Sep 2026

Polythermal conditions in small glaciers in the Swiss Alps

Janosch Beer, Mylène Jacquemart, Matthias Huss, Ilaria Santin, Gabriela Clara Racz, Christophe Ogier, Saskia Gindraux, Leo Hösli, Raphael Moser, James Irving, Mauro Fischer, and Daniel Farinotti

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Final revised paper (published on 23 Sep 2026)
Supplement to the final revised paper
Preprint (discussion started on 16 Jun 2026)
Supplement to the preprint

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

RC1:
'Comment on egusphere-2026-3042', Marcus Gastaldello, 25 Jun 2026

The comment was uploaded in the form of a supplement: https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-3042/egusphere-2026-3042-RC1-supplement.zip

Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-3042-RC1
- AC1: 'Reply on RC1', Janosch Beer, 27 Aug 2026
  
  Dear Dr. Caroline Clason & reviewer 1,
  
  We thank you for the detailed and constructive review. We believe the revisions prompted by your comments have substantially strengthened our manuscript. Our point-by-point response is provided in the attached document, giving our reply to each comment together with the corresponding change made in the manuscript. The revised manuscript, supplement, and a marked-up (latexdiff) version will follow with the formal revision as soon as the discussion stage has closed.
  
  On behalf of all co-authors,
  
  Janosch Beer
  
  Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-3042-AC1
RC2:
'Comment on egusphere-2026-3042', Anonymous Referee #2, 30 Jun 2026

Comments detailed in uploaded document

Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-3042-RC2
- AC2: 'Reply on RC2', Janosch Beer, 27 Aug 2026
  
  Dear Dr. Caroline Clason & referee 2,
  
  We thank you for the thorough and constructive review. We believe the revisions prompted by your comments have substantially strengthened our manuscript. Our point-by-point response is provided in the attached document, giving our reply to each comment together with the corresponding change made in the manuscript. The revised manuscript, supplement, and a marked-up (latexdiff) version will follow with the formal revision once the discussion stage has closed.
  
  On behalf of all co-authors,
  
  Janosch Beer
  
  Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-3042-AC2

Peer review completion

AR – Author's response | RR – Referee report | ED – Editor decision | EF – Editorial file upload

ED: Submit a revised manuscript (01 Sep 2026) by Caroline Clason

AR by Janosch Beer on behalf of the Authors (01 Sep 2026) Author's response Author's tracked changes Manuscript

ED: Publish as is (02 Sep 2026) by Caroline Clason

AR by Janosch Beer on behalf of the Authors (11 Sep 2026) Manuscript

Short summary

Small Alpine glaciers can exhibit a mix of cold and temperate ice, a polythermal structure, which can promote hazardous conditions. We drilled into six small Swiss glaciers and measured ice temperatures in boreholes. We found polythermal conditions in three of six sites and show that the thermal structure is linked to firn cover loss. Our results suggest that polythermal glaciers may be more common in the Alps than previously recognised.