Global glacier mass change in 2025
Creators
Description
Glaciers lost 408 ± 132 Gt of mass during the hydrological year 2025, equivalent to 1.1 ± 0.4 mm sea-level rise. Since 1975, glacier mass loss has totalled 9,583 ± 1,211 Gt, equivalent to 26.4 ± 3.3 mm of sea-level rise, with six of the highest mass-loss years on record occurring in the past seven years.
Key points
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Earth’s glaciers, separate from the continental ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica, experienced a net mass loss of 408 ± 132 Gt during the hydrological year 2025 (equivalent to 1.1 ± 0.4 mm sea-level rise) and a total of 9,583 ± 1,211 Gt (26.4 ± 3.3 mm sea-level rise) since 1975.
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In 2025, regional area-averaged mass loss was largest in Western Canada and USA, Iceland, and Central Europe, with the largest anomalies from the climate period (1991−2020) in Western Canada and USA, South Asia West, and Svalbard.
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Regional contributions to global mass loss in 2025 were largest from High Mountain Asia, Alaska, and the Russian Arctic.
Additional details
Identifiers
Publishing information
- Title
- Nature Reviews Earth & Environment
SGs, AAs and Is
- Strategic Group
- SG1 Climate and Environmental Risks
- Action Area
- AAA Cryosphere and Water
- Intervention
- Cryosphere
ICIMOD publication type
- ICIMOD publication type
- Staff contributions
Regional member countries
- RMC
- Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, China, Myanmar
Others
- Note
- Published under the World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS) Network, this research paper includes contributions from Mohd Farooq Azam and Shaar Johi of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD).