When one thinks of the damage that climate change is doing, it’s probable that what comes to mind is a vision of huge lumps of ice dropping off one of the polar ice sheets and crashing into the ocean. While Greenland and Antarctica are losing masses of ice, so too are most of the glaciers around the world, but it’s tricky to measure how much ice they are shedding.
When one thinks of the damage that climate change is doing, it’s probable that what comes to mind is a vision of huge lumps of ice dropping off one of the polar ice sheets and crashing into the ocean. While Greenland and Antarctica are losing masses of ice, so too are most of the glaciers around the world, but it’s tricky to measure how much ice they are shedding.
Thanks to ESA’s CryoSat satellite and a breakthrough way of using its data, scientists have discovered that glaciers worldwide have shrunk by a total of 2% in just 10 years, and it’s because of higher air temperatures.
A paper, published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, describes how scientists have used a particular technique of processing CryoSat data to reveal that glaciers lost a whopping 2,720 gigatons of ice between 2010 and 2020.
Their research also demonstrates that higher air temperatures are responsible for 89% of this ice loss.
Glaciers are found on all continents except Australia. They provide an essential source of freshwater. For example, glaciers in high-mountain Asia alone provide water for over 1.3 billion people. Glaciers are also important for industries such as hydropower.
The demise of glaciers around the world is, therefore, set to cause serious problems for local populations and those relying on outflow water further downstream.
In addition, ice being lost from glaciers is contributing more to sea-level rise than the ice being lost from either of the giant ice sheets on Greenland and Antarctica.
