Global Glacier Loss Rates Greatly Accelerated Since 2020: Tripling or Quadrupling in Some Regions

Nature, April 28

Between 2000 and 2019, the world’s glaciers lost 267 billion tons of ice per year – equivalent to 21% of observed sea level rise and enough water to flood Canada’s entire land mass by several decimeters each year. The glaciers in western North America are losing ice faster than anywhere else in the world, with the melt rate increasing fourfold. In particular, Alaska’s melt rates are among the highest on the planet, with glacier retreat reaching 35 meters each year. Measurements in the Himalayan region suggest that the so-called Karakoram anomaly (which saw some glaciers in the Western Himalayas grow, in contrast to loss and retreat elsewhere in the Himalayas and High Mountain Asia) has come to an end, with these glaciers of Pakistan now also retreating. Analysis of climate data reveals that many of the regional patterns of mass change are consistent with large-scale, decadal changes in annual precipitation and temperature. Continued carbon emissions and global warming will continue to accelerate glacier melt and ice loss, causing further sea-level rise and threatening reliable water supplies for around 2.5 billion people worldwide.

https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/1501/2021/

Compiled by Amy Imdieke