According to the results of a collaboration by 35 international groups of glaciologists (GlaMBIE: Glacier Mass Balance Intercomparison Exercise) the world’s glacial ice melting has sped up by 36 ± 3,6 Gigatons in the period 2012-2023, compared to the period 2000-2011. In the study a wealth of measuring techniques were utilized, spanning from conventional in situ mass balance measurements to various satellite remote sensing techniques. The study excludes the large icesheets on Greenland and Antarctica. Scientists from three icelandic institutions participated in the collaborative effort, e.g. Institute of Earth Sciences at University of Iceland, Icelandic Meterological Office and Landsvirkjun.

You may read the full story here: Community estimate of global glacier mass changes from 2000 to 2023, Nature, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08545-z

A short video about the project may be found at ESA‘s homepage: https://www.esa.int/esatv/Videos/2025/02/Revealed_glacier_ice_loss_over_two_decades