Worldwide, glaciers are shrinking and receding. In fact, glacier recession and thermal expansion of the ocean together account for 75% of today’s observed sea level rise. Glaciers are small and have short response times, so they react quickly to changes in air temperature and precipitation. Glaciers around the Antarctic Peninsula are shrinking particularly rapidly, and this is exacerbated by ice shelf collapse.
Many glaciers in mountain regions of the world are a critical water resource to the local population, providing a buffer to drought and a dependable supply of water during the dry season. This critical role of glaciers is threatened by global glacier recession.
This section summarises how glaciers are behaving and shrinking around the Antarctic Peninsula, in nearby Patagonia in South America, and more broadly around Antarctica.
In this video, I discuss global glacier change and the importance of glaciers for water resources and sea level rise. Suitable for A-Level and Undergraduate students (30 minutes long).
You can read more about our work on glaciers in Alaska here:
Thank you for your article and evidence supporting global warming. I am already convinced, and therefore your evidence simply confirms what I know to be true. However, I am trying to convince an intelligent friend who is a climate skeptic, and he finds your evidence as presented unconvincing – and this is a common problem, I must admit. Either you lack paired photos, or you fail to provide precise dates (at the very least stating ‘spring’, summer’ and ‘autumn’); and such omission are sufficient for skeptics like my friend to reject your text and explanations: being suspicious, he wants ‘proper’ and precise photographic evidence, fully referenced down to page number. – Gunnar Sivertsen, Folkestone, Kent, England CT20 1DQ