Glaciers speak to us. Are we listening?
These long-lasting ice and snow masses very slowly slide along the ground they sit on. We can find glaciers both in mountainous terrain and in large flat zones, on every continent all around the planet. In Aragón’s Pyrenees, in the La Maladeta range, we have one of the southernmost glaciers in Europe. It is not as large as the glaciers in Greenland or the Antarctic, but they unfortunately all share one same characteristic: they are in recession.
Glaciers, along with the planet’s other solid water masses, form the cryosphere, which acts as a reservoir of water resources and supports a specific biodiversity. In addition, it regulates the Earth’s climate by reflecting the sun’s rays into space (the albedo effect) and by contributing to the maintenance of thermohaline circulation .
A Delicate Balance
Glaciers and ice layers account for approximately 70% of the planet’s fresh water according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. These storehouses uphold a delicate balance. During cold seasons, snow falls on them and makes them increase in size. Conversely, during the warm seasons, the ice melts, slowly releasing water and feeding nearby populations and ecosystems.
This balance has been broken by our current temperature increase. Glaciers are losing more water than they are gaining; they are shrinking. In 2023, they lost 600 gigatonnes of water — equivalent to 13% of the world’s annual consumption — the largest loss recorded in 50 years of observations
In addition to freshwater reserves, we are losing food and energy resources, since this process modifies the water cycle, elevates the sea level, and alters biodiversity. Safety is also jeopardised, with an increased risk of flooding nearby populations and a likelihood of extreme weather events occurring around the globe.
A Historical Archive of Special Value
With glaciers, we also lose cultural and scientific values. The layers of ice and snow of which glaciers are made trap small air bubbles, pollen, and particles that tell us what the climate was like when they were created hundreds of thousands of years ago. This helps us to predict future evolution more accurately.
We have been monitoring glaciers with different techniques for over 130 years. Nowadays we have satellites for this task, like Cryosat, which belongs to the ESA. It provides reliable, real-time data for monitoring. We had the chance to listen to it at the conference held at Fundación Canal “Climate Change From Space.”
In Spain, since 2011, the Monte Perdido glacier monitoring project has sought to understand how this glacier behaves in its final phases, so we can improve knowledge and conservation of other ice masses farther to the north.
Initiatives to Protect Glaciers
Given the delicate situation of the cryosphere, international agreements have been signed to legally protect it, such as the Antarctic Treaty or the Convention for the Protection of the Alps , and initiatives are being developed, like UNESCO’s programme to conserve glaciers in World Heritage Sites. At a regional level, we have protected areas such as the Natural Monument of the Pyrenean Glaciers, declared by the Government of Aragón.
The most effective measure to stop or slow down glacier loss is to mitigate climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, the UNESCO affirms that by keeping the global temperature increase at 1.5ºC, we could save two-thirds of glaciers in World Heritage Sites.
Also hugely important are adaptation measures, both through risk maps and models and early warning systems, such as US programme TsunamiReady, designed to warn the local population if tsunamis could occur due to dislodged ice masses. Additionally, improving management systems for meltwater, especially with nature-based solutions , such as restoring headwaters and river corridors, eases adaptation to future changes in water availability.
“Save Our Glaciers” is the slogan that the United Nations picked for World Water Day 2025. Moreover, this year was designated International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation. From here on out, every March 21 will be World Glaciers Day.
To learn more, we recommend the conference by Jerónimo López “The Antarctic and glaciers as climate change laboratories.”
By listening to glaciers and helping to preserve them, you contribute to bringing our planet back into balance.
