Community estimate of global glacier mass changes from 2000 to 2023

Zheng W, Zekollari H, Wouters B, Velicogna I, Treichler D, Sutterley T, Sommer C, Shen X, Seehaus T, Schuster L, Sasgen I, Richter A, Plummer S, Piermattei L, Pfeffer J, Pálsson F, Nilsson J, Moholdt G, Miles E, Menounos B, McNabb R, Mattea E, Maussion F, Krieger L, Kneib M, King O, Khan SA, Ke CQ, Liang CCA, Jóhannesson T, Huss M, Hugonnet R, Hassan J, Harig C, Gardner A, Floricioiu D, Florentine C, Farinotti D, Eckert N, Colgan W, Cicero E, Brun F, Braun M, Box J, Bolch T, Boehm Vock LF, Blazquez A, Bhattacharya A, Berthier E, Andreassen LM, Abdullahi S, Geruo A, Dubber S, Gourmelen N, Nussbaumer SU, Dussaillant I, Jakob L, Zemp M (2025)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2025

Journal

Article Number: 5835

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-08545-z

Abstract

Glaciers are indicators of ongoing anthropogenic climate change¹. Their melting leads to increased local geohazards², and impacts marine³ and terrestrial^4,5 ecosystems, regional freshwater resources⁶, and both global water and energy cycles^7,8. Together with the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, glaciers are essential drivers of present^9,10 and future^{11, 12–13} sea-level rise. Previous assessments of global glacier mass changes have been hampered by spatial and temporal limitations and the heterogeneity of existing data series^{14, 15–16}. Here we show in an intercomparison exercise that glaciers worldwide lost 273 ± 16 gigatonnes in mass annually from 2000 to 2023, with an increase of 36 ± 10% from the first (2000–2011) to the second (2012–2023) half of the period. Since 2000, glaciers have lost between 2% and 39% of their ice regionally and about 5% globally. Glacier mass loss is about 18% larger than the loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet and more than twice that from the Antarctic Ice Sheet¹⁷. Our results arise from a scientific community effort to collect, homogenize, combine and analyse glacier mass changes from in situ and remote-sensing observations. Although our estimates are in agreement with findings from previous assessments^{14, 15–16} at a global scale, we found some large regional deviations owing to systematic differences among observation methods. Our results provide a refined baseline for better understanding observational differences and for calibrating model ensembles^12,16,18, which will help to narrow projection uncertainty for the twenty-first century^11,12,18.

Authors with CRIS profile

Involved external institutions

Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETHZ) / Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich Switzerland (CH) Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) Netherlands (NL) University of California Irvine United States (USA) (US) University of Oslo Norway (NO) University of Washington United States (USA) (US) Hohai University China (CN) Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck / University of Innsbruck Austria (AT) Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung (AWI) Germany (DE) National University of La Plata / Universidad Nacional de La Plata (UNLP) Argentina (AR) ESA Centre for Earth Observation Italy (IT) Eidgenössische Forschungsanstalt für Wald, Schnee und Landschaft (WSL) Switzerland (CH) Université Fédérale de Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées France (FR) Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate / Norges vassdrags- og energidirektorat (NVE) Norway (NO) Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR) / German Aerospace Center Germany (DE) Earthwave Ltd. United Kingdom (GB) University of Zurich / Universität Zürich (UZH) Switzerland (CH) Geological Survey of Canada (GSC) / Commission géologique du Canada (CGC) Canada (CA) University of Ulster United Kingdom (GB) University of Fribourg / Universitè de Fribourg Switzerland (CH) University of Bristol United Kingdom (GB) University of Grenoble Alpes (UGA) / Université de Grenoble France (FR) Newcastle University United Kingdom (GB) Technical University of Denmark / Danmarks Tekniske Universitet (DTU) Denmark (DK) Nanjing University China (CN) University of Iceland (UI) / Háskóli Íslands Iceland (IS) California Institute of Technology (Caltech) United States (USA) (US) Norsk Polarinstitutt / Norwegian Polar Institute Norway (NO) Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) / Veðurstofa Íslands Iceland (IS) Technische Universität Graz Austria (AT) St. Olaf College United States (USA) (US) JIS University India (IN) University of Arizona United States (USA) (US) Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland / De Nationale Geologiske Undersøgelser for Danmark og Grønland (GEUS) Denmark (DK) Magellium Artal Group France (FR) United States Geological Survey (USGS) United States (USA) (US) Institut national de recherche pour l’agriculture, l’alimentation et l’environnement (INRAE) France (FR)

How to cite

APA:

Zheng, W., Zekollari, H., Wouters, B., Velicogna, I., Treichler, D., Sutterley, T.,... Zemp, M. (2025). Community estimate of global glacier mass changes from 2000 to 2023. Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08545-z

MLA:

Zheng, Whyjay, et al. "Community estimate of global glacier mass changes from 2000 to 2023." Nature (2025).

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