Glaciers lost 408 ± 132 Gt of mass during the hydrological year 2025, equivalent to 1.1 ± 0.4 mm sea-level rise. Since 1975, glacier mass loss has totalled 9,583 ± 1,211 Gt, equivalent to 26.4 ± 3.3 mm of sea-level rise, with six of the highest mass-loss years on record occurring in the past seven years.
Key points
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Earth’s glaciers, separate from the continental ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica, experienced a net mass loss of 408 ± 132 Gt during the hydrological year 2025 (equivalent to 1.1 ± 0.4 mm sea-level rise) and a total of 9,583 ± 1,211 Gt (26.4 ± 3.3 mm sea-level rise) since 1975.
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In 2025, regional area-averaged mass loss was largest in Western Canada and USA, Iceland, and Central Europe, with the largest anomalies from the climate period (1991−2020) in Western Canada and USA, South Asia West, and Svalbard.
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Regional contributions to global mass loss in 2025 were largest from High Mountain Asia, Alaska, and the Russian Arctic.
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Data availability
The annual mass change time series for individual glaciers, regions, global, and gridded at a spatial resolution of 0.5° latitude and longitude are available from the WGMS (https://doi.org/10.5904/wgms-amce-2026-02-10). The gridded product is also available from the Copernicus Climate Data Store (https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.ba597449). As input data, we used the glaciological and geodetic observations from the Fluctuations of Glaciers database9 (https://doi.org/10.5904/wgms-fog-2026-02-10), the GTN-G glacier regions (https://doi.org/10.5904/gtng-glacreg-2017-07), and the glacier outlines from the Randolph Glacier Inventory 6.0 (ref. 1, https://doi.org/10.7265/4m1f-gd79) and from the Greater Caucasus Glacier Inventory (https://doi.org/10.7265/N5V98602; submission 642 by L. Tielidze).
Code availability
The code for implementing our approach is available on GitHub (https://github.com/wgms-org/amce). Version 2026-02-10 was used to produce the results presented here.
References
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Acknowledgements
The WGMS is operated thanks to long-term support from the Department of Geography, University of Zurich, and the Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology (MeteoSwiss) within the framework of GCOS Switzerland. The Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), as a programme of the European Union implemented by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), supports the operational computation of the global gridded glacier mass-change product. We are grateful for the support that our national correspondents and principal investigators have received from their national institutions and project sponsors.
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Glacier observations for the present study have been carried out by an international network of principal investigators for in situ (B.A., L.M.A., M.F.A., A.B., D.B., G.B., M.B., J.Bar., E.Bern., B.C., G.C., L.C., N.C., R.C., D.Cap., D.Cat., J.L.Ce., E.D., J.D., L.D., R.D., S.D., A.E., H.E., N.E., A.F., C.F., K.F., M.F., F.G., S.P.G., A.Ga., A.Gub., A.Gun., B.H., J.H., L.H., M.Ho., M.Hu., R.I., T.I., S.J., B.K., J.K., S.K., N.Ki., H.L., I.L., S.L., A.Le., A.Li., A.M., E.M., L.M., S.M., U.M., C.Ma., C.Mc., A.N., F.N., G.N., H.N., S.U.N., C.P., F.P., H.P., R.P., V.P., M.Pec., M.Pel., A.R., L.R., A.S., B.S., I.S., L.S., M.S., R.S., S.S., D.Si., E.T., F.T., T.T., L.Th., P.To., P.Tu., G.U., R.U., L.V., W.Y., B.Z.) and remote sensing (L.M.A., A.B., M.H.B., N.E.B., T.B., E.Bert., G.C., J.L.Ca., I.D., H.E., D.F., M.F., N.G., A.Guy., R.H., M.Ho., M.Hu., L.J., B.K., N.Ka., C.Mi., E.S., D.Sh.) observations, and compiled by the WGMS staff (J.Ban., I.G., S.U.N., A.W., E.W., M.Z.) in annual calls for data through the WGMS National Correspondents (A.P.A., B.A., M.F.A., C.B., B.C., G.C., J.L.Ce., L.D., O.D., H.E., A.F., K.F., M.Hu., S.J., J.K., N.Ka., N.Ki., J.M.L., Z.L., C.Ma., R.P., V.P., M.Pel., D.Si., L.Th., L.Ti., G.U., R.U.). I.D., R.H., E.Bert., M.Hu., E.W., and M.Z. developed and validated the methodology for combining in situ and remote sensing data. J.Ban., L.J., C.Mi., S.U.N., A.W., E.W., and M.Z. validated and analysed the data. A.W. and M.Z. produced the figures. M.Z. wrote the paper. All authors commented on the paper.
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Related links
Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) glacier mass-change product: https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.ba597449
World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS): https://wgms.ch
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The WGMS Network. Global glacier mass change in 2025. Nat Rev Earth Environ (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-026-00777-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-026-00777-z
