Stable water isotope record from block profiles in the ice tunnel at Chli Titlis glacier, Switzerland

Findings like the Oetztal ice man have demonstrated that small ice bodies at summit locations of comparatively lower altitudes may also contain old ice if locally frozen to the underlying bedrock. In this case, constraining the maximum age of their lowermost ice part may help to identify past periods with minimum ice extent in the Alps.

However, with recent warming and consequent glacier mass loss, these sites may not preserve their unique climate information for much longer. Designed as a case study for investigating the maximum age of cold-based summit glaciers in the Alps, we utilized here an existing ice cave at Chli Titlis (3030 m), Central Switzerland. The cave offers direct access to the glacier stratigraphy without the logistical effort required in ice core drilling.