Glacier & Ice-Sheet Mass Loss
The world's glaciers and the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets have been losing mass for decades, and the losses are accelerating. These charts combine field measurements from the World Glacier Monitoring Service with satellite gravity data from NASA's GRACE missions to track how much ice is vanishing and how much it is raising global sea level.
Key Glacier & Ice Loss Insights
Four decades of unbroken decline
WGMS reference glaciers recorded their 37th straight year of net mass loss in 2023/24, with cumulative thinning of more than 27 metres of water equivalent since 1970.
Both ice sheets are shrinking
NASA's GRACE and GRACE-FO satellites measure Greenland losing about 264 gigatonnes of ice per year and Antarctica about 135 gigatonnes per year over 2002–2025.
A growing share of sea-level rise
Mountain glaciers alone added 18 mm to global sea level between 2000 and 2023, and the cryosphere together accounts for the largest contribution to observed sea-level rise.
The melt is speeding up
GlaMBIE found the glacier loss rate rose 36% in 2012–2023 versus 2000–2011, and five of the six worst glacier years on record occurred in 2019–2024.
Cumulative Glacier Mass Balance Since 1970
Average cumulative mass balance of the WGMS network of long-term reference glaciers, in metres of water equivalent relative to 1970. Negative values mean net ice loss.
Key Finding: Reference glaciers have thinned by more than 27 m water equivalent since 1970 — a steady, accelerating decline with no recovery years.
Annual Ice Loss by Source (GRACE & GlaMBIE)
Average annual mass loss from the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets (NASA GRACE/GRACE-FO, 2002–2025) compared with the world's mountain glaciers (GlaMBIE, 2000–2023), in gigatonnes per year.
Key Finding: Greenland (~264 Gt/yr) and mountain glaciers (~273 Gt/yr) each shed roughly twice as much ice per year as Antarctica (~135 Gt/yr).
Glacier Contribution to Sea-Level Rise
Cumulative contribution of melting mountain glaciers to global mean sea-level rise, 2000–2023, in millimetres, from the GlaMBIE reconciled assessment.
Key Finding: Mountain glaciers alone raised global sea level by 18 mm between 2000 and 2023, with the curve steepening after 2015.
Annual Global Glacier Mass Loss
Total mass lost by the world's glaciers in selected years, in gigatonnes of water. 2023 was the most negative single year on record; 2024 lost 450 Gt, the fourth most negative.
Key Finding: 2023 set an all-time record (~600 Gt) and 2024 (450 Gt) ranked fourth-worst — recent years dwarf losses from the early 2000s.
Glacier Volume Lost by Region (2000–2023)
Share of total glacier mass lost in each region over 2000–2023 (GlaMBIE). All 19 glacier regions have been in net loss for three straight years; loss varies from 2% in Antarctica to 39% in Central Europe.
Key Finding: Central Europe's glaciers have lost 39% of their mass since 2000 — far above the 5% global average — while Antarctic glaciers lost about 2%.
Understanding Glacier Data
What is glacier mass balance?
Mass balance is the difference between the snow a glacier gains and the ice and meltwater it loses over a hydrological year. It is reported in metres of water equivalent (m w.e.), the depth of water spread evenly over the glacier surface. A negative balance means the glacier is shrinking. The WGMS tracks a global set of long-term reference glaciers with more than 30 years of continuous field observations, and 2023/24 was their 37th consecutive year of loss.
How GRACE satellites weigh ice
NASA's GRACE (2002–2017) and GRACE Follow-On (from 2018) missions measure tiny changes in Earth's gravity field caused by shifting mass. As an ice sheet loses billions of tonnes of ice, the local pull of gravity weakens, and the satellites detect it. This satellite gravimetry lets scientists weigh the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets directly, yielding roughly 264 and 135 gigatonnes of loss per year respectively over 2002–2025.
Gigatonnes and sea-level equivalent
A gigatonne (Gt) is one billion metric tonnes — about the mass of 1 cubic kilometre of water. Because the ocean surface is so vast, roughly 360 Gt of ice melt raises global sea level by about 1 mm. That is why glaciers' 6,542 Gt of loss over 2000–2023 translates to 18 mm of sea-level rise, and why every year's gigatonne tally maps directly onto the height of the world's oceans.
Measurement caveats
Glaciological field measurements cover only a few hundred glaciers, so global estimates combine them with geodetic satellite data (GRACE, altimetry, photogrammetry) through projects like GlaMBIE, which reconciled observations for all ~275,000 glaciers worldwide. Year-to-year figures carry uncertainty from weather, sparse coverage in remote ranges, and the separation of ice loss from ocean and land-water signals, so single-year values are best read as part of the long-term trend.