Latest news with #WGMS
Jordan Times
22-03-2025
- Climate
- Jordan Times
World's glacier mass shrank again in 2024, UN says
Volunteers collect wastes on the Mer de Glace's glacier in Chamonix-Mont Blanc, French Alps, on September 2, 2016, during the annual clean-up operation following the summer season (AFP photo) GENEVA — All 19 of the world's glacier regions experienced a net loss of mass in 2024 for the third consecutive year, the United Nations said Friday, warning that saving the planet's glaciers was now a matter of "survival". Five of the last six years have seen the most rapid glacier retreat on record, the UN's World Meteorological Organisation said on the inaugural World Day for Glaciers. "Preservation of glaciers is a not just an environmental, economic and societal necessity: it's a matter of survival," said WMO chief Celeste Saulo. Beyond the continental ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica, more than 275,000 glaciers worldwide cover approximately 700,000 square kilometres, the WMO said. But they are rapidly shrinking due to climate change. "The 2024 hydrological year marked the third year in a row in which all 19 glacier regions experienced a net mass loss," the WMO said. Together, they lost 450 billion tonnes of mass, the agency said, citing new data from the Swiss-based World Glacier Monitoring Service [WGMS]. It was the fourth-worst year on record, with the worst being in 2023. Huge loss over 50 years "From 2022-2024, we saw the largest three-year loss of glaciers on record," Saulo said. Glacier mass loss last year was relatively moderate in regions such as the Canadian Arctic and the peripheral glaciers of Greenland, but glaciers in Scandinavia, Norway's Svalbard archipelago and North Asia experienced their worst year on record. Based on a compilation of worldwide observations, the WGMS estimates that glaciers, separate from the continental ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica, have lost more than 9,000 billion tonnes since records began in 1975. "This is equivalent to a huge ice block of the size of Germany with a thickness of 25 metres," said WGMS director Michael Zemp. At current rates of melting, many glaciers in western Canada and the United States, Scandinavia, central Europe, the Caucasus and New Zealand "will not survive the 21st century", the WMO said. The agency said that together with ice sheets, glaciers store around 70 per cent of the world's freshwater resources, with high mountain regions acting like the world's water towers. If they disappear, that would threaten water supplies for millions of people downstream. 'Ignoring the problem' For the UN, the only possible response is to combat global warming by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. "We can negotiate many things in the end, but we cannot negotiate physical laws like the melting point of ice," said Stefan Uhlenbrook, the WMO's water and cryosphere director. He declined to comment on the return to office of US President Donald Trump, a climate change sceptic who has pulled the United States out of the landmark 2015 Paris climate accords. However, Uhlenbrook said that "ignoring the problem" of climate change "is maybe convenient for a short period of time", but "that will not help us to get closer to a solution". For the inaugural World Day for Glaciers, the WGMS named a US glacier as its first Glacier of the Year. The South Cascade Glacier in Washington state has been monitored continuously since the 1950s and provides one of the longest uninterrupted records of glaciological mass balance in the western hemisphere. The US Geological Survey, the government body that studies the natural environment, has measurements there going back to 1958, while WGMS's records there began even earlier, in 1952.
Euronews
21-03-2025
- Science
- Euronews
World Glacier Day: UN warns of ‘avalanche of cascading impacts' as ice melt increases
ADVERTISEMENT Today marks the first ever World Glaciers Day, an occasion which the UN is using to spotlight these icy landscapes which are fast disappearing. Glaciers are now 9,000 billion tonnes lighter than when records began in 1975, according to the World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS). 'This is equivalent to a huge ice block the size of Germany with a thickness of 25 metres,' says the service's director, Prof. Dr. Michael Zemp. As the planet warms up, glacier loss is accelerating. The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO)'s new State of the Global Climate report revealed that from 2022-2024, glaciers underwent their greatest three-year loss on record. Related Greenpeace ordered to pay more than €600 million to oil company over US pipeline protests Glaciers are losing more water each year than the world will consume in three decades, study warns 'Seven of the ten most negative mass balance years have occurred since 2016,' says WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo, referring to the difference between the amount of ice glaciers gain through snowfall and the amount they lose through seasonal melting. This is triggering an 'avalanche of cascading impacts', the UN agency warns, from flooding to water scarcity and sea-level rise. 'Preservation of glaciers is not just an environmental, economic and societal necessity,' says Saulo, 'It's a matter of survival.' What does the depletion of 'the world's water towers' mean for people? There are more than 275,000 glaciers worldwide, covering approximately 700,000 square kilometres of ground. Alongside ice sheets , they store a whopping 70 per cent of global freshwater resources. As the WMO puts it, high mountain regions are the world's water towers. The depletion of glaciers threatens the supplies of hundreds of millions of people who live downstream and depend on the steady release of water stored over winter during the hottest and driest parts of the year. In the short term, glacier melt increases natural hazards like floods . In the longer term, glaciers are the second-largest contributor to global sea-level rise, after the warming of the ocean. They contributed 18 mm to global sea-level rise between the years 2000-2023, according to one recent study by a global consortium of hundreds of researchers called the Glacier Mass Balance Intercomparison Exercise (GlaMBIE). "This might not sound much, but it has a big impact: every millimetre sea-level rise exposes an additional 200,000 to 300,000 people to annual flooding,' says Zemp. GlaMBIE found that between 2000 and 2023, glaciers lost on average 5 per cent of their remaining ice. But regionally, this loss ranged from 2 per cent in the Antarctic and Subantarctic Islands to almost 40 per cent in Central Europe. Related Slovenia, Sweden, Malta: Which European citizens are most and least prepared for climate disasters? 'It made me cry': Swiss glacier photos taken 15 years apart reveal staggering loss Where are glaciers most at risk? WMO and WGMS warn that many glaciers in Western Canada and the US, Scandinavia, Central Europe, the Caucasus, New Zealand, and the Tropics are at risk of melting entirely. The 2024 hydrological year marked the third year in a row in which all 19 glacier regions experienced a net loss of mass, WMO observes. Glaciers in Scandinavia, Svalbard, and North Asia experienced their largest annual mass loss on record. South Cascade Glacier, pictured October 2020, has the longest mass-balance record within the USGS Benchmark Glacier monitoring programme. U.S. Geological Survey. Inaugurated in the International Year of Glaciers' Preservation, the first World Glacier Day (21 March) seeks to increase awareness of the vital role that glaciers, snow, and ice play in the climate system and hydrological cycle. ADVERTISEMENT One glacier is especially in the limelight today. South Cascade Glacier in the Cascade Range of Washington, US, has been chosen as the first 'Glacier of the Year' - an accolade which celebrates the majesty of these icy landscapes and the dedication of glaciologists who watch over them. 'South Cascade Glacier exemplifies both the beauty of glaciers and the long-term commitment of dedicated scientists and volunteers who have collected direct field data to quantify glacier mass change for more than six decades', says Caitlyn Florentine, co-investigator of the glacier from the US Geological Survey. It has been continuously monitored since 1952 and provides one of the longest uninterrupted records of glaciological mass balance in the Western Hemisphere.
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
World's glacier mass shrank again in 2024, says UN
All 19 of the world's glacier regions experienced a net loss of mass in 2024 for the third consecutive year, the United Nations said on Friday, warning that saving the planet's glaciers was now a matter of "survival". Five of the last six years have seen the most rapid glacier retreat on record, the UN's World Meteorological Organization weather, climate and water agency said, on the inaugural World Day for Glaciers. "Preservation of glaciers is a not just an environmental, economic and societal necessity: it's a matter of survival," said WMO chief Celeste Saulo. Beyond the continental ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica, more than 275,000 glaciers worldwide cover approximately 700,000 square kilometres, said the WMO. But they are rapidly shrinking due to climate change. "The 2024 hydrological year marked the third year in a row in which all 19 glacier regions experienced a net mass loss," the WMO added. Together, they lost 450 billion tonnes of mass, the agency said, citing new data from the Swiss-based World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS). It was the fourth worst year on record, with the worst being in 2023. - Huge loss over 50 years - "From 2022-2024, we saw the largest three-year loss of glaciers on record," said Saulo. Glacier mass loss last year was relatively moderate in regions such as the Canadian Arctic and the peripheral glaciers of Greenland -- but glaciers in Scandinavia, Norway's Svalbard archipelago and North Asia experienced their worst year on record. Based on a compilation of worldwide observations, the WGMS estimates that glaciers -- separate from the continental ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica -- have lost more than 9,000 billion tonnes since records began in 1975. "This is equivalent to a huge ice block of the size of Germany with a thickness of 25 metres," said WGMS director Michael Zemp. At current rates of melting, many glaciers in western Canada and the United States, Scandinavia, central Europe, the Caucasus, New Zealand "will not survive the 21st century", said the WMO. The agency said that together with ice sheets, glaciers store around 70 percent of the world's freshwater resources, with high mountain regions acting like the world's water towers. If they disappear, that would threaten water supplies for millions of people downstream. - 'Ignoring the problem' - For the UN, the only possible response is to combat global warming by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. "We can negotiate many things in the end, but we cannot negotiate physical laws like the melting point of ice," said Stefan Uhlenbrook, the WMO's water and cryosphere director. He declined to comment on the return to office in January of US President Donald Trump, a climate change sceptic who has pulled the United States out of the landmark 2015 Paris climate accords. However, Uhlenbrook said that "ignoring the problem" of climate change "is maybe convenient for a short period of time", but "that will not help us to get closer to a solution". For the inaugural World Day for Glaciers, the WGMS named a US glacier as its first Glacier of the Year. The South Cascade Glacier in Washington state has been monitored continuously since 1952 and provides one of the longest uninterrupted records of glaciological mass balance in the western hemisphere. apo/rjm/bc
