Mountain Glaciers in Retreat: From the Alps to the Himalayas, Ice Is Disappearing

Mountain glaciers — the glaciers found in mountain ranges on every inhabited continent — are among the most visible indicators of climate change. Unlike the vast ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica, mountain glaciers are accessible, frequently photographed, and often deeply embedded in local culture, religion, and water supply systems. Their retreat has been documented since the mid-19th century, but the pace has accelerated dramatically in recent decades, and the consequences for the approximately 1.9 billion people who depend on glacier meltwater are becoming increasingly stark.

The European Alps — A Region in Crisis

The European Alps have lost approximately 50% of their glacier volume since 1900, with the rate of loss accelerating sharply since the 1980s. The summer of 2022 was catastrophic: record temperatures drove the largest single-year mass loss ever recorded in the Alps, with some glaciers losing over 3 metres of ice thickness in a single season. The Mer de Glace in France — the Alps' largest glacier — has retreated by approximately 2.5 kilometres since 1870 and is projected to lose 80-90% of its remaining volume by 2100 under moderate warming scenarios. Several smaller Alpine glaciers have already disappeared entirely.

The Himalayas — The Third Pole

The Hindu Kush Himalaya — sometimes called the Third Pole for the enormous quantities of ice it contains — is home to approximately 54,000 glaciers covering around 60,000 square kilometres. These glaciers feed ten major river systems that sustain approximately 1.9 billion people across Asia. A comprehensive ICIMOD assessment found that Hindu Kush Himalayan glaciers have been losing mass at an accelerating rate, with the rate of loss in 2010-2019 approximately 65% faster than in 2000-2009. Under a high-emissions scenario, the region could lose up to two-thirds of its glacier volume by 2100.