Triftsee

The Triftsee is a proglacial lake below the Trift Glacier in Gadmen, in the canton of Bern, Switzerland. It began forming in the late 1990s as the glacier retreated and expanded significantly after 2001. The site has since become the focus of hydropower development plans and environmental debates.

== History == Since 1998, a proglacial lake began developing around the tongue of the Trift Glacier as a result of its marked retreat in the previous decade. In 2000 a marginal lake on the glacier’s right side merged with the main basin, and by 2001 depth soundings carried out by scientists at the Laboratory of Hydraulics, Hydrology and Glaciology (VAW) at ETH Zurich estimated the lake to be about 1 km long, up to 50 m deep, and capable of holding around 6 million cubic metres of water. The scientists also identified potential hazards, including waves caused by avalanches or icefalls entering the lake, temporary blockages from floating ice, and sudden outflows that could result in flooding downstream.