In five of the last six years the glaciers have experienced the fastest setback ever observed. Between 2022 and 2024 there was the greatest triennial loss of glacier mass that is recorded. The glaciers sink rapidly and there is no back.
The so -called “perpetual ice” of glaciers will disappear before the end of the 21st century. The World Meteorological Organization (OMM) and the World Surveillance Service of glaciers (WGMS) says it.
Of the size of Germany
More than 275,000 glaciers cover an approximate area of 700,000 km2. Together with ice mantles, glaciers store about 70% of global fresh water resources. The exhaustion of glaciers compromises the supply of hundreds of millions of people living downstream. They depend on the release of the water stored along past winters during the hottest and dry periods of the year. In the short term, the thaw of glaciers increases the risk of natural hazards, such as floods.
The glaciers lost more than 9 billion tons since the records began in 1975. “It is equivalent to a huge block of ice to the size of Germany with a thickness of 25 meters.” Professor Dr. Michael Zemp, WGMS director explains it in a statement.
The 2024 was the third consecutive hydrological year in which the 19 glacial regions lost mass. Scandinavia, Svalbard and northern Asia experienced the greatest loss of annual mass ever registered. Between 2000 and 2023, the glaciers had lost 5 % of the ice that they have left.
Goodbye glaciers
Glaciers sink rapidly. What happens if they continue at this rate? Many glaciers from Canada, the United States, Central Europe, and the tropics will disappear during the 21st century. Between 2000 and 2023 the loss of glacier mass worldwide amounted to 6,542 billion tons. It is the current consumption of the world population in 30 years, assuming three liters per person and day. The thaw of glaciers contributed in 18 mm to the global sea level rise.
«It may seem a modest amount, but its impact is great. A millimeter of sea level rise exposes 300 thousand people additional to annual floods, ”they point out.
