Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences· 2026Q1
Extensive glacier loss in the coterminous United States
- 1citations
- Q1SCImago
- 2026year
Short summary
Glaciers in the western US have lost about one-quarter of their number and one-third of their area and volume since the mid-20th century.
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Key points
- About 25% of glaciers in the western US have disappeared since the mid-20th century.
- The total area and volume of these glaciers have decreased by approximately 33%.
- Small glacier size and local topography are key factors maintaining glacier persistence.
- Results improve understanding of alpine hydrology and ecosystem processes.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Glaciers populate the mountain ranges of the western conterminous United States and despite their importance to alpine hydrology, their area and volume change have never been comprehensively evaluated. Our study shows that since the mid-twentieth century about one-quarter of the glaciers have disappeared and the overall area and volume are reduced by one-third. The pattern of glacier shrinkage suggests most glaciers in the conterminous United States are largely maintained by local topographic influences due to their small size. These results improve our understanding of evolving high alpine hydrology and importance to ecosystem processes.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2026 · DOI ↗
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Field: Atmospheric Science
Atmospheric ScienceEarth and Planetary Sciences