Future

December 2025: The team prepares an exhibition at Charles University in Albertov named 'Belvedere Glacier: An Environmental Laboratory of Landscape Changes', which will open on 9 December 2025. 

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Past 

July 2025: The team continued in situ sampling at Belvedere Glacier and tackled the challenge of acquiring photographs of the entire glacier, including the East Monte Rosa wall, from a helicopter (M. Nüsser) to reconstruct the full topography of the wall. The month also included research-based teaching for MSc and PhD students.

June 2025: The team presented their results at the ESA Living Planet Symposium in Vienna.

April 2025: The research team met in Milan to plan future activities and met with representatives from the Verbania province to discuss the regional requirements for the research outcomes.

February 2025: Roberto S. Azzoni introduced the GLAM research team and presented the Belvedere research results, “Belvedere, 1951–2023: A Glacier Odyssey,” at the 28th Alpine Glaciology Meeting on February 27, 2025, in Innsbruck, Austria.

January 2025: The GLAM research team established a collaboration with the industry partner TRL Space during the launch of their hyperspectral satellite, Troll.

September 2024: GLAM (Glacier Landscape Analysis and Geohazards Monitoring with Earth Observation) research team web page public launch. 

August 2024: Belvedere glacier in-situ sampling (Macugnaga, Italy).

June 2024: Seminar on in-situ sampling and Monte Rosa drone challenge planning (Charles University, Czech Republic). 

October 2023: Monographic issue of AUC Geographica https://karolinum.cz/casopis/auc-geographica papers preparation at Heidelberg University (Germany).

August 2023: Seminar on Remote Sensing of the Cryosphere Dynamics under the Influence of Climate Change joined with Belvedere glacier in-situ sampling (Macugnaga, Italy). 

December 2022: Prof. Marcus Nüsser (Heidelberg University) presenting at the Charles University Prague (1st December 2022, Prague, Czech Republic). 

December 2022: Seminar on Collaborative research on High Mountain Cryosphere under the influence of Climate Change (4EU+ student mini grant).

July 2021: First meeting of the researchers from the University of Milan, Charles University, and the Heidelberg University in the Italian Alps.

Foto: Charles University, Faculty of Science, Prague, 15th May 2024, ERASMUS+ (Roberto Azzoni)

WHERE AND WHEN?  

At the Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, on the second floor of the Albertov 6 building by the Map Collection,  from December 9th 2025 to March 9th 2026. 

Under the auspices of the Dean of the Faculty of Science of Charles University doc. RNDr. Ing. Vladimír Krylov, Ph.D.  

Annotation

High in the Italian Alps, beneath the eastern face of Monte Rosa, the Belvedere Glacier has become a unique environmental laboratory in which scientists, students, and local communities can observe the effects of climate change first-hand. This international exhibition showcases the results of collaborations between Charles University, the University of Milan, and Heidelberg University within the 4EU+ Alliance. Using historical maps and photographs, aerial photographs and satellite imagery, state-of-the-art drone surveys, dendrochronology studies, and thematic maps, visitors can explore how glaciers evolve and the ways in which their retreat is reshaping entire mountain valleys. The exhibition portrays the glacier as a place of both discovery and risk, where rapid movements, avalanches, and sudden floods have left their mark on the landscape and local memory. At its heart, the exhibition celebrates the glacier as a living classroom, a place where scientists learn and test new methods in the field. The international team (GLAM - Glacier Landscape Analysis and Geohazards Monitoring with Earth Observation https://glam.natur.cuni.cz) works together to study one of the most dynamic glaciers in the Alps. 

Exhibition posters in the English version.

Poster 1: Belvedere Glacier Environmental Laboratory

Poster 2: Research Team Glacier Landscape Analysis and Geohazards  Monitoring with Earth Observation

Poster 3: Students in the Field: Research-based education

Poster 4: Science in Action: How We Study the Glaciers?

Poster 5: When Glaciers Turn Dangerous? 

Poster 6: What can historical and recent aerial photos tell us about long-term glacier change? 

Poster 7:  How much ice has Belvedere Glacier lost in the past 70 years?

Poster 8: Why do lakes form on the glacier surface, and what risks do they bring?

Poster 9: How does the snowline reveal the effects of warming on Alpine glaciers?

Poster 10: What Trees Tell Us About Sliding Moraines?

Poster 11: How can we represent the results of the surface modelling by geomorphic processes in a map? 

Poster 12: Rocks Remember: Modelling of Rockfalls and Dating   

Poster 13: What old photographs and engravings reveal about glaciers?

Poster 14: Castelfranco debris flow: What are the geomorphic impacts of the 2023 Castelfranco event?   

Poster 15: Supraglacial Vegetation on the Debris-Covered Belvedere Glacier

Poster 16: Impacts of Ice Cliffs on the Belvedere Glacier

Poster 17: Takeaway and  Research questions