The way our warming world is headed, melting mountain glaciers won't recover for centuries, even if we are able to cool off the planet.
What's happening?
A new study warns that once the planet overshoots a critical climate threshold, bringing temperatures back down won't be enough to restore many mountain glaciers within the next several centuries. An international team of scientists from Austria, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Germany, and the United States recently published their findings in Nature Climate Change.
"Exceeding 1.5 °C of global warming above pre-industrial levels has become a distinct possibility, yet the consequences of such an overshoot for mountain glaciers and their contribution to raising sea levels and impacting water availability are not well understood," states the study. "Here we show that exceeding and then returning to below 1.5 °C will have irreversible consequences for glacier mass and runoff over centuries."
"Current climate policies are putting the Earth on a path close to 3°C," Dr. Fabien Maussion, an associate professor in polar environmental change at the University of Bristol and one of the study's authors, said, according to the Cabot Institute for the Environment.
"It's clear that such a world is far worse for glaciers than one where the 1.5°C limit is held," Maussion added. "We aimed to discover whether glaciers can recover if the planet cools again. It's a question many people ask — will glaciers regrow in our lifetime, or that of our children? Our findings indicate sadly not."
Why is this study important?
A survey of over 350 climate scientists found that just a small fraction of them believe the world won't surpass 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) warming, a critical "climate benchmark" from the 2015 Paris Agreement, an international treaty agreed to by 195 countries.
"Overshooting 1.5°C, even temporarily, locks in glacier loss for centuries. Our study shows that much of this damage cannot simply be undone — even if temperatures later return to safer levels," warns Maussion. "The longer we delay emissions cuts, the more we burden future generations with irreversible change."
A recent glacier collapse created a flow of rock, ice, and debris that buried Blatten, Switzerland, an Alpine village located about 40 miles southeast of Bern. Most of the town heeded advanced warnings and were able to evacuate, but Swiss Army troops were searching for at least one resident who was still missing after the collapse.
The findings from another recent study surprised scientists at how fast glaciers are melting. It is estimated that 15 million people are at risk of catastrophic flooding as glacial lakes swell and burst. In addition to the dangers of rising sea levels to coastal areas, mountain regions face the threat of landslides, floods, and water shortages as glaciers recede.
What's being done about melting glaciers?
In an effort to raise awareness about the impacts of melting glaciers, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 2025 the International Year of Glaciers' Preservation. One of the goals of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization is to "mobilize governments, scientific institutions, private sector organizations, and civil society to urgently reduce greenhouse gas emissions and implement effective adaptation strategies."
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