Strong increase in melting glaciers
The rate of ice loss from the world's glaciers is increasing at an ever-faster pace, according to new research.
The first global study of glaciers shows a sharp increase over the past decade.
The glaciers are melting due to an increasingly warm climate, which means that sea levels are rising and huge reservoirs of frozen freshwater are disappearing, according to researchers at, among others, a university in Zurich, Switzerland, who led the research project.
Among the results are statistics showing that about 36 percent more ice melted during the period 2012-2023 than during the period 2001-2011.
Around 273 billion tonnes of ice melts annually – equivalent to the water consumption of the entire population of the Earth over 30 years. However, there are large regional differences, with glaciers in the Alps melting at a huge rate compared to glaciers at, for example, the South Pole.
The study also confirms concerns that glaciers are melting faster than previous calculations by the UN climate experts within the IPCC.
The result is “shocking” according to Professor Emeritus Michael Zemp, who is co-author of the report, published in the prestigious scientific journal Nature. The study was carried out in collaboration with the World Glacier Monitoring Service, the University of Edinburgh and the organisation Earthwave.
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