At least half of world's glaciers could disappear by 2100: Study

By Melike Pala

BRUSSELS (AA) - At least half of the world's glaciers are expected to disappear by the end of the century due to climate change, according to a new study by Swiss researchers published Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change.

The study warns that between 2,000 and 4,000 glaciers could vanish each year by mid-century, as global temperatures continue to rise, accordig to the Swiss Info website.

Currently, an estimated 750 to 800 glaciers are disappearing annually worldwide.

Researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich) estimate that if global temperatures rise by 2.7C (36.86F) -- the current warming trajectory -- four out of five of the world's more than 200,000 glaciers will disappear by 2100.

If warming is limited to 1.5C (34.7F), in line with the Paris Climate Agreement, around half of today's glaciers could be preserved. In a worst-case scenario of 4C (39.2F) warming, only one in 10 glaciers would remain.

"These contrasts illustrate how an ambitious climate policy can make an essential contribution to preserving glaciers," the researchers said.

Unlike previous research, the study focused not only on glacier volume and surface area but also on the number of glaciers, highlighting that even the disappearance of small glaciers can have significant local impacts.

Glaciers are retreating fastest in regions with many small ice bodies, such as the Alps and the Caucasus, while larger glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica are melting more slowly, the study said.

In Switzerland alone, more than 1,000 glaciers have disappeared over the past 30 years, according to co-author Matthias Huss, a glaciologist involved in the research.

A glacier is considered to have disappeared when its surface area falls below 0.01 square kilometers (1 hectare) or when its remaining mass drops below 1% of its original volume, the study said.