Geneva, 20 February 2025 (dpa/MIA) - Glaciers have lost a collective 6,542 billion tons of ice between 2000 and 2023, contributing 18 millimetres to global sea-level rise, according to analysis published on Wednesday.

On average, glaciers lost 273 billion tonnes of ice per year in the period, according to research published in the journal Nature part of the Glacier Mass Balance Intercomparison Exercise (Glambie).

Glaciologist Michael Zemp, who co-led the study, said that "to put this in perspective" 273 billion tons of ice "amounts to what the entire global population consumes in 30 years, assuming three litres per person and day."

Glambie is a major international research initiative coordinated by the World Glacier Monitoring Service and hosted at the University of Zurich.

The exercise saw hundreds of contributors from around the world combining different types of data from field measurements and gained from using tools including optical, radar, laser and gravimetry satellite missions to compile an annual time series of glacier mass change for all glacier regions globally from 2000 to 2023.

Researchers have found that, since 2010, glaciers have lost approximately 5% of their total volume, with Central Europe losing a staggering 39% while areas like the Antarctic and Subantarctic Islands lost about 2%.

The amount of ice lost was 36% greater between 2012 and 2023 compared to the 231 billion tons lost in the first half of the study period.

Glacier mass loss between 2000 and 2023 was 18% higher than that from the Greenland Ice Sheet and more than double that from the Antarctic Ice Sheet.

MIA file photo