Globally, glacier melting is getting faster Glaciers and ice sheets are in trouble. Worldwide, glaciers (not including the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets) lost 273 billion tonnes of ice from 2000-2023, with the second decade (2012-2023) increasing by 36% compared with the first1. In 2025 alone, glaciers lost 408 billion tonnes of ice, equivalent to […]
Can we ‘preserve’ glaciers with geoengineering? Read More »
By Bethan Davies (Lead Author, IPCC AR7, Chapter 2) It is a hot and humid day in June 2026 – breaking many records, in fact, for the warmest June day in the UK on record. An apposite day, it seems, to finalise my first draft of my chapter section of the IPCC First Order Draft.
IPCC First Order Draft Read More »
These pages provide information on some key drivers of change in global ice sheets and glaciers. See also: Southern Westerly Winds Circumpolar Deep Water
Drivers of change: climate and ocean Read More »
How is climate change affecting the Antarctic Peninsula? And how will the Antarctic Peninsula change under future climate? These questions are tackled in Davies et al. 2026, which analyses climate model outputs for three scenarios: SSPs 1-2.6, SSP3-7.0 and SSP 5-8.5. These reflect a sustainable future, a medium-high emissions future and a high emissions future
The Changing Antarctic Peninsula Read More »
Glaciers are important for their beauty, cultural importance, ecosystem services such as water resources, economic value, and potential to raise global sea levels. This is an impassioned plea to recognise the value of our glaciers worldwide, and to protect them to the best of our ability. Globally shrinking glaciers Glaciers exist in pretty well every
Why are glaciers important? Read More »
Glaciated regions present a wide range of glacial resources, from drinking water to tourism and from hydroelectric power to mining. However, as the climate warms and glacial regions change, these resources are under threat, and communities will need to start adapting in order to maintain livelihoods and economic development. Glacial water resources The first of
Climate change and future glacial resources Read More »
In 2022, the Royal Meteorological Society hosted an online event that explored the impact of climate change at the world’s three poles: the Arctic, the Antarctic and the Himalaya, in partnership with the Grantham Institute. Watch the online event here: Abstract Climate change is having rapid and dramatic impacts on glacier ice and snow at
Climate change and the world’s three poles (Video) Read More »
Earth’s glaciers are shrinking at an alarming rate. Each year they are losing more mass than is being replenished in each accumulation season.28 trillion tonnes of ice was lost from 1994 to 2017, and rates have risen by 57% since the 1990s. At present, global ice volume is shrinking at a rate of 267±16 Gt/year,
What does COP26 mean for global glacier and ice sheet change? Read More »
This Storymap series produced by esri UK and the Met Office explores the impact that modern-day climate change will have on the UK. The series investigates six key areas where climate change will cause the most disruption, which includes fire, flooding, agriculture, transport, energy, and health. When studying the effects of climate change in glaciated
UK Climate change ArcGIS stories Read More »
In a new article in the journal Nature, Stephen Rintoul and colleagues present two very different visions of Antarctica’s future, from the perspective of an observer looking back from 2070. In one vision, humanity continues to exploit Earth’s natural resources (such as fossils fuels) and does little to protect the environment, and in the other,
Choosing the future of Antarctica Read More »
