Community estimate of global glacier mass changes from 2000 to 2023

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

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2025

Journal

Book Volume: 639

Pages Range: 382-388

Issue: 8054

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 terrestrial4,5 ecosystems, regional freshwater resources6, and both global water and energy cycles7,8. Together with the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, glaciers are essential drivers of present9,10 and future11,12,13 sea-level rise. Previous assessments of global glacier mass changes have been hampered by spatial and temporal limitations and the heterogeneity of existing data series14,15,16. 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 assessments14,15,16 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 ensembles12,16,18, which will help to narrow projection uncertainty for the twenty-first century11,12,18.

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Involved external institutions

National Central University Taiwan (TW) Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck / University of Innsbruck Austria (AT) University of Zurich / Universität Zürich (UZH) Switzerland (CH) Earthwave Ltd. United Kingdom (GB) University of Edinburgh United Kingdom (GB) Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR) / German Aerospace Center Germany (DE) Université Fédérale de Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées France (FR) University of California Irvine United States (USA) (US) JIS University India (IN) Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate / Norges vassdrags- og energidirektorat (NVE) Norway (NO) University of Grenoble Alpes (UGA) / Université de Grenoble France (FR) Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland / De Nationale Geologiske Undersøgelser for Danmark og Grønland (GEUS) Denmark (DK) St. Olaf College United States (USA) (US) Technische Universität Graz Austria (AT) University of Arizona United States (USA) (US) Technical University of Denmark / Danmarks Tekniske Universitet (DTU) Denmark (DK) United States Geological Survey (USGS) United States (USA) (US) Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETHZ) / Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich Switzerland (CH) California Institute of Technology (Caltech) United States (USA) (US) University of Washington United States (USA) (US) Nanjing University China (CN) University of Bristol United Kingdom (GB) University of Fribourg / Universitè de Fribourg Switzerland (CH) University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) Canada (CA) University of Oslo Norway (NO) University of Iceland (UI) / Háskóli Íslands Iceland (IS) Magellium Artal Group France (FR) Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) Netherlands (NL) National University of La Plata / Universidad Nacional de La Plata (UNLP) Argentina (AR) Newcastle University United Kingdom (GB) Laboratoire National des Champs Magnétiques Intenses (LNCMI) / French National High Magnetic Field Laboratory- CNRS France (FR) Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) / Veðurstofa Íslands Iceland (IS) University of Ulster United Kingdom (GB) Norsk Polarinstitutt / Norwegian Polar Institute Norway (NO) European Space Agency (ESA) France (FR) Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung (AWI) Germany (DE) Hohai University China (CN) Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) Belgium (BE)

How to cite

APA:

Zemp, M., Jakob, L., Dussaillant, I., Nussbaumer, S.U., Gourmelen, N., Dubber, S.,... Zheng, W. (2025). Community estimate of global glacier mass changes from 2000 to 2023. Nature, 639, 382-388. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08545-z

MLA:

Zemp, Michael, et al. "Community estimate of global glacier mass changes from 2000 to 2023." Nature 639 (2025): 382-388.

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