Accelerated global glacier mass loss in the early twenty-first century.

Glaciers distinct from the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are shrinking rapidly, altering regional hydrology, raising global sea level and elevating natural hazards. Yet, owing to the scarcity of constrained mass loss observations, glacier evolution during the satellite era is known only partially, as a geographic and temporal patchwork. Here we reveal the accelerated, albeit contrasting, patterns of glacier mass loss during the early twenty-first century.

Dynamic vulnerability revealed in the collapse of an Arctic tidewater glacier.

Glacier flow instabilities can rapidly increase sea level through enhanced ice discharge. Surge-type glacier accelerations often occur with a decadal to centennial cyclicity suggesting internal mechanisms responsible. Recently, many surging tidewater glaciers around the Arctic Barents Sea region question whether external forces such as climate can trigger dynamic instabilities.