Yesterday ENS reported that world´s glaciers are melting at a record rate. ENS cites new findings from the United Nations Environment Programme, UNEP, announced today.
Data from close to 30 reference glaciers in nine mountain ranges indicate that between the years 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 the average rate of melting and thinning more than doubled.
Since 1980 there has been a total reduction in thickness of ice of just over 11.5 meters, or almost 38 feet.
The findings come from the UNEP-supported World Glacier Monitoring Service based at the University of Zurich. It has been tracking the condition of glaciers for over a century. Continuous data series of annual mass balance, expressed as thickness change, are available for 30 reference glaciers since 1980.
”The latest figures are part of what appears to be an accelerating trend with no apparent end in sight,” said World Glacier Monitoring Service Director Professor Wilfried Haeberli to ENS.