The Argentière Glacier is a

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as ...

in the

French Alps The French Alps are the portions of the Alps mountain range that stand within France, located in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur regions. While some of the ranges of the French Alps are entirely in France, others, such as ...

. It is one of the larger glaciers found within the

Mont Blanc massif The Mont Blanc massif (french: Massif du Mont-Blanc; it, Massiccio del Monte Bianco) is a mountain range in the Alps, located mostly in France and Italy, but also straddling Switzerland at its northeastern end. It contains eleven major indepen ...

, and is situated above the village of

Argentière Argentière () is a picturesque skiing, alpine walking and mountaineering village in the French Alps, part of the commune of Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, at an altitude of .Chamonix Chamonix-Mont-Blanc ( frp, Chamôni), more commonly known as Chamonix, is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of southeastern France. It was the site of the first Winter Olympics in 1924. In 2019, it had ...

valley and falls within the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. From its source to the valley of Chamonix, the Argentière Glacier is nine kilometers long. Like many glaciers in the region, the Argentière has receded significantly. Between 1870 and 1967, the glacier shrank 1000 meters. In recent years, it has receded to a position atop a steep slope. The glacier's rapid retreat has been linked to a continuous negative mass balance. A five-year study started in 2004 showed that the glacier had lost an average of 1.5 m between 2004 and 2009, and that there was a 10–11 m loss in average ice thickness from the glacier. File:Argentière Glacier, August, 2013.JPG, With its surrounding landscape in Summer File:Argentiere glacier neal mcquaid.jpg, The Argentière Glacier File:Glacier Argentiere.jpg, From the train station of Argentière File:2019 Argentière Glacier.jpg, Close view

References

Glaciers of Metropolitan France Glaciers of the Alps Landforms of Haute-Savoie Landforms of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Tourism in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Mont Blanc massif {{HauteSavoie-geo-stub

See also

References