Since 2000, as the global temperature has risen, glaciers across the globe have shrunk. This is true not only in the Arctic and Antarctic but also in the Middle East and South America, where large masses of ice in high mountain areas have existed for thousands of years.
In an extensive international research collaboration that DTU Space has contributed to, scientists have collected data from all the world's glaciers, calculated the melting based on different methods, and added them into the most accurate calculation of ice loss to date. Their results are published today in Nature.
"All methods unanimously show large melting of glaciers across the globe," says Professor at DTU Space Shfaqat Abbas Khan, who has been responsible for DTU's contribution to the new study and is head of the Center for Ice-Sheet and Sea-Level Predictions (CISP) funded by The Novo Nordisk Foundation and located at DTU Space.
Over the past roughly 25 years, it turns out 273 gigatons of ice have melted from glaciers each year. This is equivalent to approximately 273 cubic kilometres of water. If all this water were collected in Denmark, it would cover the entire country with a water column over 152 meters high.
"This is one of the most comprehensive studies of the total loss of ice from the world's glaciers to date. Not only has there been extensive melting from 2000 to 2023, it has also accelerated significantly during this period, so it is happening much faster today than 25 years ago," says Shfaqat Abbas Khan.
"We are seeing a trend where more and more areas are losing ice masses, which can have catastrophic consequences for local communities in the long term. Many rivers running through China, India and other parts of the Asian continent are supplied mainly by melting glaciers. So, a future lack of meltwater will affect crops and water supplies for people and animals, for example."
