Evidence of global glacier recession: repeat photographs and satellite imagery

Globally, glaciers are receding, one of the most visual and striking pieces of evidence of the way in which climate change is affecting our planet. The evidence is clear, both in satellite imagery, digital elevation models, and repeat glacier photography.

Global scale remote sensing

Worldwide, glaciers are shrinking. We know this from satellite measurements, that show global glacier thinning and shrinkage. Worldwide, glaciers lost a mass of 267 gigatonnes per year, from 2000-2019, which accounted for 21% of observed sea level rise (Hugonnet et al., 2021). Each of the global regions below shows mass loss over this 20 year period, with strongly accelerated loss from north-western American glaciers in particular.

Global scale glacier mass loss and shrinkage. Size of circle indicates amount of mass loss in gigatonnes (billions of tonnes), year 2000 to 2020. From Hugonnet et al., 2021.

This observation has been replicated by dozens of independent studies by various author teams, using various different methods. For example, analysis of satellite imagery, aerial photographs and glacial geomorphology from Juneau Icefield, Alaska, has recently shown a strong acceleration of glacier shrinkage since 2005.

Glacier shrinkage of Juneau Icefield, Alaska. Davies et al., 2024.

Photographing glacier recession: repeat glacier photography

There are many efforts to photograph glacier shrinkage, which is very striking.

Peru

Example of glacier recession from Qori Kalis Glacier, Peru, from the NSIDC Glacier Photograph Collection.

Repeat glacier photography, Qori Kalis glacier, Peru — Qori Kalis Glacier, 1978

North America

The NSIDC has a Glacier Photograph Collection that includes repeat photography of glaciers, and the USGS has a Repeat Photography Project.

Repeat photo of Grinnell Glacier from Mt. Gould 1938 – TJ Hileman, GNP Archive 2019 – L McKeon, USGS

USGS repeat photography gallery, United States glaciers

European Alps

Glacier recession in the Swiss Alps is captured photographically on the GlaciersOnline website: https://www.swisseduc.ch/glaciers/big_melt/index-en.html

There is a handy interactive tool to view glacier intercomparison photographs on SwissGlaciers.org: https://www.gletschervergleiche.ch/Pages/ImageCompare.aspx?Id=6

Svalbard

Greenpeace Svalbard glacier comparison images:

Top: Archive image from Kongsfjorden with the glacier Blomstrandbreen in the background in 1918. Middle: taken in the same location by photographer Christian Aslund in 2002. Bottom: taken in the same location by photographer Christian Aslund. 27th August 2024. Greenpeace has commissioned photographer Christian Aslund to continue a project he began in 2002 – to carry out visual research of glaciers in Svalbard and document their retreat over time. While sailing aboard the Greenpeace vessel ‘Witness’, Aslund revisited glaciers he first documented in 2002 as well as photographing others, new to this project. The Arctic has been warming more than twice as fast as the rest of the world, due to “Arctic amplification.” Rapid warming of the Arctic region has global consequences. Melting glaciers and ice sheets are causing sea levels to rise. Melting sea ice reveals the dark ocean that absorbs heat instead of reflecting it like ice and snow and has far-reaching impacts on weather patterns. Norwegian Polar Institute Reference image: NP002571

Wider reading

Greenpeace Arctic Glacier retreat. Shows glacier repeat photography from Svalbard.

NSIDC glacier photograph collection.

Glaciers Online: the Big Melt. Many photographs of glacier recession from Mike Hambrey and Jurg Allean.

National Park Service Glacier Repeat Photographs: a beautiful and well designed resource with glacier repeat photography.

USGS repeat photography project from glaciers across the USA.

Denali Repeat Photographs showing glaciers of Denali, USA

References

Davies, B.J., McNabb, R., Bendle, J.M., Carrivick, J.L., Ely, J.C., Holt, T., Markle, B.R., McNeil, C., Nicholson, L., Pelto, M., 2024. Accelerating glacier volume loss on Juneau Icefield driven by hypsometry and melt-accelerating feedbacks. Nature Communications 15, 5099.

Hugonnet, R., McNabb, R., Berthier, E., Menounos, B., Nuth, C., Girod, L., Farinotti, D., Huss, M., Dussaillant, I., Brun, F., Kääb, A., 2021. Accelerated global glacier mass loss in the early twenty-first century. Nature 592, 726-731.

National Snow and Ice Data Center (comp.), 2002, updated 2015. Glacier Photograph Collection, in: NSIDC: National Snow and Ice Data Center (Ed.), Version 1 ed, Boulder, Colorado USA. https://doi.org/10.7265/N5/NSIDC-GPC-2009-12