The glaciers of all the world have lost 5% of their total volume in the last two decadesespecially during the last ten years, a thaw that is depleting regional fresh water resources and accelerating the increase in sea level.
A new study, with the participation of 35 research teams, indicates that The glaciers have been losing an average of 273,000 million tons of ice a year since 2000 and within that average “an alarming increase in the last 10 years” is hidden “indicates the European Space Agency (ESA).
To put it in perspective, those 273,000 million tons equals what the entire world population consumes in 30 years, assuming three liters per person and day, exemplified Michael Zemp, from the University of Zurich and co -director of a study published today by Nature.
The glaciers are vital resources of fresh water, especially for the local communities of Central Asia and the Central Andes, where they dominate the runoff during the warm and dry stations, said Inés Dussalillant, also a signature of study and the same educational center.
In total, from 2000 to 2023, The glaciers collectively lost 6,542 billion tons of ice and the amount of missing ice increased 36% in the second half of the study period (2012-2023) compared to the first half of the study (2000-2011).
Specifically, the loss went from 231,000 million tons per year in the first half of the period studied at 314,000 million in the second half.
In the year 2000, the glaciers – exchanged the continental ice layers of Greenland and the Antarctica – covered 705,221 square kilometers and contained about 121,728 million tons of ice.
The investigation indicates that in the last 20 years they have lost approximately 5% of their total volume, with regional declines ranging from 2% in the Antarctic and Subantartical Islands and 39% in Central Europe.
The loss of glacier mass throughout the study period was 18% higher than that of the ice layer of Greenland and more than double that of the Antarctic ice layer.
At present, glaciers are the second factor that contributes most to the increase in sea level, after the thermal expansion related to the warm -up of the oceans.