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Climate change

Shrinking glaciers under scrutiny

Nature volume 482, pages 482–483 (2012)Cite this article

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Melting glaciers contribute to sea-level rise, but measuring their mass loss over time is difficult. An analysis of satellite data on Earth's changing gravity field does just that, and delivers some unexpected results.

Glaciers and ice caps are pivotal features of both water resources and tourism. They are also a significant contributor to sea-level rise. About 1.4 billion people are dependent on the rivers that flow from the Tibetan plateau and Himalayas1. Yet significant controversy2 and uncertainty surround the recent past and future behaviour of glaciers in this region. This is not so surprising when one considers the problem in hand. There are more than 160,000 glaciers and ice caps worldwide. Fewer than 120 (0.075%) have had their mass balance (the sum of the annual mass gains and losses of the glacier or ice cap) directly measured, and for only 37 of these are there records extending beyond 30 years. Extrapolating this tiny sample of observations to all glaciers and ice caps is a challenging task that inevitably leads to large uncertainties.

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Figure 1: The Leschaux and Talèfre glaciers in the French Alps.

J. BALOG/EXTREME ICE SURVEY

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  1. Jonathan Bamber is at the Bristol Glaciology Centre, School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1SS, UK.,

    Jonathan Bamber

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  1. Jonathan Bamber
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Correspondence to Jonathan Bamber.

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Bamber, J. Shrinking glaciers under scrutiny. Nature 482, 482–483 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature10948

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