Half of glaciers will disappear by 2100 even if world sticks to 1.5°C goal: Study

Source: The post is based on the article “Half of glaciers will disappear by 2100 even if world sticks to 1.5°C goal: Study” published in Down To Earth on 7th January 2023

What is the News?

According to a study titled “Global glacier change in the 21st century: Every increase in temperature matters”, half of the Earth’s glaciers are destined to vanish by 2100.

Note: Glaciers, which hold 70 % of the Earth’s freshwater, currently encompass around 10% of the planet’s land area.

About the study on Glacier melting

Glaciers are receding at unprecedented rates due to climate change and rising temperatures. The amount of ice lost by glaciers between 1994 and 2017 was around 30 trillion tonnes and they are now melting at a pace of 1.2 trillion tonnes each year.

The glaciers in the Alps, Iceland and Alaska are some of those that are melting at the quickest rates.

Half the Earth’s glaciers are destined to vanish by 2100, even if we adhere to the Paris Climate Agreement goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

A minimum of 50% of the loss will occur within the next 30 years. 68% of glaciers will vanish if global warming continues at the current rate of 2.7 °C.

If this happens, by the end of the following century, there would be practically no glaciers left in central Europe, western Canada and the United States.

Impact of Glacier melting

Glacier melting will significantly contribute to sea level rise, threaten the supply of water of up to 2 billion people, and increase the risk of natural hazards such as flooding.