A new comprehensive analysis of global glacier changes suggests glaciers are melting faster than ever.
The World Glacier Monitoring Service compiled worldwide glacial change data and compared what was seen in the first decade of the 21st century all known earlier data, the University of Zurich reported. They observed glaciers were found to currently be losing between half a meter and one meter of ice every year, which is more than the corresponding average of the 20th century.
Exact measurements of ice loss were only available for only a few hundred glaciers, but the results were qualitatively confirmed through field and satellite-based observations for tens of thousands of glaciers across the globe.
The researchers reported that the current rate of glacier melt is "without precedence at global scale" for the period between 2001 and 2010, and most likely for all of history.
The study also shows the long-term retreat of glacier tongues is happening across the planet. Intermittent advance periods at regional and decadal scales are usually restricted to small subsamples of glaciers, are have not come close to the Little Ice Age maximum seen between the 16th and 19th century. Some glacial tongues in Norway have significantly retreated from the maximum reached in the 19th century, and re-advances observed in the 1990s were shown to be restricted to a small region of the coastal area.
"The study indicates that the intense ice loss of the past two decades has resulted in a strong imbalance of glaciers in many regions of the world. These glaciers will suffer further ice loss, even if climate remains stable," the researchers concluded.
The findings were published in a recent edition of the Journal of Glaciology.
