Friday, April 30, 2021

Global glacier retreat has accelerated


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/ez-ggr042921.php

 

News Release 29-Apr-2021
New study analyses roughly 220,000 glaciers
ETH Zurich




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Rising sea levels and water scarcity What was once permanent ice has declined in volume almost everywhere around the globe. Between 2000 and 2019, the world's glaciers lost a total of 267 gigatonnes (billion tonnes) of ice per year on average - an amount that could have submerged the entire surface area of Switzerland under six metres of water every year. The loss of glacial mass also accelerated sharply during this period. Between 2000 and 2004, glaciers lost 227 gigatonnes of ice per year, but between 2015 and 2019, the lost mass amounted to 298 gigatonnes annually. Glacial melt caused up to 21 percent of the observed rise in sea levels during this period - some 0.74 millimetres a year. Nearly half of the rise in sea levels is attributable to the thermal expansion of water as it heats up, with meltwaters from the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets and changes in terrestrial water storage accounting for the remaining third.

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