France's Alpine Glacier Map: Iconic Retreating Ice Formations

France Glaciers Map

Pro Tip: Turn on the high-resolution ESRI aerial photo layer in the map above to see exactly how far these glaciers have retreated or where they have vanished entirely.

Types of Glaciers that used to be common in France (and what remains)

In southern France (Pyrenees), nearly all glaciers have vanished or shrunk to tiny, stagnant patches; treat them as former ice bodies for mapping. In the eastern French Alps (Mont-Blanc massif, Vanoise, Écrins), a few long valley glaciers still persist—but they are retreating and thinning fast. Flagship names include Mer de Glace, Argentière, Bossons, Taconnaz (Mont-Blanc area); Glacier Blanc and Glacier Noir (Écrins); Arpont, De la Girose, and others—most with sustained losses.

Cirque & side-valley glaciers (mostly former in the south & lower Alps): Short tongues in shaded amphitheaters and gullies; many are now deglaciated or reduced to debris-mantled, stagnant ice.
Long valley & icefall glaciers (remain, but retreating in the east): Multi-kilometer trunks occupying broad U-shaped valleys (e.g., Mer de Glace, Argentière, Glacier Blanc); active, yet rapidly thinning with proglacial lakes growing at several snouts.

How to Recognize Former Glacier Limits (what to look for)

Moraines: Paired lateral ridges and arcuate terminal walls of mixed boulders/gravels; look for kettles and hummocky terrain on their toes.
Trimlines & color breaks: Sharp shifts in lichen/varnish/vegetation that trace former ice-surface levels along valley walls.
Cirques & headwalls: Steep amphitheaters with old bergschrund scars; talus ramps where niche glaciers once clung.
Polished/striated bedrock: Smoothed gneiss/granite with parallel grooves; asymmetrical roches moutonnées pointing down-ice.
Overdeepenings & tarns: Rock basins and new proglacial lakes impounded by moraines; look for small deltas where streams entered former lakes.
Meltwater pathways: Braided outwash, ice-contact terraces, and abandoned channels across fresh forefields.

Former Glacier Structure (now diminished)

Accumulation vs. ablation: Rising equilibrium-line altitudes removed the net-gain zone on many small glaciers; tongues stagnated, detached, and wasted beneath debris cover.
Crevasses & clean-ice cliffs (historical on many outlets): Now largely confined to the bigger Alpine tongues (Mer de Glace, Argentière); debris mantling is increasingly common elsewhere.

Retreat Timeline (brief)

Since the Little Ice Age (~1850) France’s glaciers have retreated with pauses and readvances, then accelerated losses after the 1990s—especially in extreme melt years (e.g., 2022). Mer de Glace has lost ~1 km in length and ~160 m of thickness over ~35 years, with recent retreat rates on the order of a few dozen meters per year. Argentière registered multi-meter thinning in 2021–2022, and a proglacial lake is expected to form as the tongue draws back. In the Pyrenees, only a handful of tiny glaciers remain and are projected to disappear within the next couple of decades.

What Changes Without Summer Glacial Runoff?

Hydrology: Earlier snowmelt peaks and lower late-summer baseflows in glacier-fed catchments; more “flashy” storm responses; rapid growth of forefield lakes and channel changes.
Local climate & land surface: Loss of bright ice lowers albedo and warms valley heads; vegetation belts shift upslope across newly deglaciated terrain.
Hazards: Unstable, freshly de-iced walls; debris-flows; GLOF risk where new moraine-dammed lakes form; crevasse bridges weaken on thinning ice.
Ecosystems & tourism: Shrinking cold-water refugia; altered seasonality for Alpine streams; route changes/closures for mountaineering and glacier tourism.
Agriculture & infrastructure: Tighter late-summer water windows; hydropower scheduling adapts to earlier runoff pulses; exposure of buried utilities/tracks in retreat zones.

Glacier Database Field Descriptions Key

Click to expand technical glacier dataset fields

PHOTO_YEAR
Description: The 4-digit year of the photograph used for measurements of California glacier parameters. Note: If more than one photograph was used, the most relevant year is recorded here; the others are recorded in the REMARKS field. In general, the California glacier outlines, and hence, the values for area and length, were determined from California aerial photographs, so we recommend using the PHOTO_YEAR for glacier area values.
No Data Value: Null
Example: 1976

MAX_ELEV
Description: Maximum elevation of the highest point of the California glacier in meters above sea level, up to 4 digits.
No Data Value: Null
Example: 3962

MEAN_ELEV
Description: The mean elevation is the altitude of the contour line, in meters above sea level, that halves the area of the glacier, up to 4 digits.
No Data Value: Null
Example: 3170

MIN_ELEV
Description: The minimum elevation of the lowest point of the glacier in meters above sea level, up to 4 digits.
No Data Value: Null
Example: 1590

FORM
0 Miscellaneous: Any type not listed below.
1 Compound Basins: Two or more individual valley glaciers issuing from tributary valleys and coalescing.
2 Compound Basin: Two or more individual accumulation basins feeding one glacier system.
3 Simple Basin: Single accumulation area.
4 Cirque: Occupies a separate, rounded, steep-walled recess formed on a mountain side.
5 Niche: Small glacier in a V-shaped gully or depression on a mountain slope; generally more common than genetically further-developed cirque glacier.
6 Crater: Occurring in extinct or dormant volcanic craters.
7 Ice Apron: Irregular, usually thin ice mass that adheres to mountain slopes or ridges.
8 Group: A number of similar ice masses occurring in close proximity to one another but too small to be assessed individually.
9 Remnant: Inactive, usually small ice masses left by a receding California glacier.

FRONT_PROF
0 Miscellaneous: Any type not listed below.
1 Piedmont: Ice field formed on a lowland area by lateral expansion of one or coalescence of several glaciers.
2 Expanded Foot: Lobe or fan formed where the lower portion of the glacier leaves the confining wall of a valley and extends onto a less restricted and more level surface.
3 Lobed: Part of an ice sheet or ice cap, disqualified as an outlet glacier.
4 Calving: Terminus of a glacier sufficiently extending into sea or lake water to produce icebergs; includes, for this inventory, dry land ice calving recognizable from the "lowest glacier elevation."
5 Confluent: Coalescing, non-contributing.
6 Irregular, mainly clean ice (mountain or valley glaciers).
7 Irregular, mainly debris-covered (mountain or valley glaciers).
8 Single lobe, mainly clean ice (mountain or valley glaciers).
9 Single lobe, mainly debris-covered (mountain or valley glaciers).

SRC_NOURSH
0 Unknown
1 Snow
2 Avalanches
3 Superimposed ice

TONGUE_ACT
0 Uncertain
1 Marked retreat
2 Slight retreat
3 Stationary
4 Slight advance
5 Marked advance
6 Possible surge
7 Known surge
8 Oscillating

TOTAL_AREA
Description: The total area of the glacier in a horizontal projection in square kilometers.

AREA_ACY
Area Accuracy Ratings
Rating | Accuracy (%)
1 | 0 - 5
2 | 5 - 10
3 | 10 - 15
4 | 15 - 30
5 | > 30

AREA_IN_ST
Description: The total area of the California glacier that resides in the political state concerned in a horizontal projection in square kilometers.

AREA_EXP
Description: The area of the exposed ice of the glacier in a horizontal projection in square kilometers.

MEAN_WIDTH
Description: The mean width of the California glacier in a horizontal projection in kilometers.

MEAN_LENGT
Description: Mean length of the California glacier in a horizontal projection in kilometers.

MAX_LENGTH
Description: Maximum length of the California glacier in kilometers measured along the most important flowline in a horizontal projection.

MAX_LEN_EX
Description: Maximum length, in kilometers, of the exposed ice of the glacier in a horizontal projection.

MAX_LEN_AB
Description: Maximum length, in kilometers, of the ablation area of the California glacier in a horizontal projection.