Today, 21 March 2025, the spotlight is being shined on glaciers on the first UN World Day for Glaciers.
2025 is also the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation; a global campaign to highlight how melting glaciers are affecting our planet. The movement encourages us all to act to preserve the vital role of glaciers in sustaining life on Earth for generations to come.
Glaciers around the world are retreating at unprecedented rates. There are more than 275,000 glaciers in the world, covering an area of around 700,000km. They are an essential part of our ecosystem, holding critical freshwater reservoirs and regulating sea levels.
The ice front of the Thwaites Glacier. David Vaughan.
The Thwaites Glacier is one of the most unstable glaciers in Antarctica. Over the past 30 years, the amount of ice flowing out of this 120km-wide region has nearly doubled. Warm ocean water from the Amundsen Sea circulates under the ice, causing it to melt. This melting loosens the ice from the bedrock below, causing it to flow faster and eventually retreat.
The US National Science Foundation and UK Natural Environment Research Council teamed up to study this rapidly changing glacier that’s roughly the same size as Florida or Britain. Over the past five years, scientists have been researching this glacier to understand how it is changing and how it might contribute to future sea level rise.
Learn more about the Thwaites Glacier in this video.
