Glaciers melting faster as planet warms
The melting of mountain glaciers worldwide is accelerating, a clear sign that climate change is also picking up, the UN environmental agency and scientists say.
"The new data confirms the trend in accelerated loss during the past two and a half decades," it adds.
The monitoring service looked at mountain glaciers (also known as alpine or valley glaciers), those that flow for all or most of there length within the walls of a mountain valley.
Data shows that these glaciers, located around the world, have thinned by about 10.5 metres on average since 1980.
They melted on average about 1.6 times faster annually this decade compared with the 1990s, and about six times faster than in the 1980s.
The glacier surface area is also much smaller than in the 1980s, says Dr Michael Zemp, a glaciologist at the monitoring service.
"The recent increase in the rates of ice loss over reducing glacier surface areas leaves no doubt about the accelerated change in climatic conditions," Zemp adds.
Climate change in action
UNEP executive director Achim Steiner says, "The findings confirm the science of human-induced climate change."
Steiner says the data from glaciers provides "confirmation that will be further underlined when the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change unveils its next report on 2 February."
The world's top climate experts began a four-day meeting of the UN panel this week in Paris, where they are set to launch a long-awaited update about the scientific evidence for global warming later this week.
The melting of the mountain ice floes is expected to show up in 2006 data because it was one of the warmest years in many parts of the world, UNEP says.
"These findings should strengthen the resolve of governments to act now to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and put in place the medium to longer term strategies necessary to avert dangerous climate change," Steiner says.
Humans need glaciers
The UN's environmental chief underlines the importance of glaciers for human life in many regions.
"Glaciers across the globe are important sources of water for many rivers, rivers upon which people depend for drinking water, agriculture and industrial purposes," he says.
The preliminary 2005 data was based on readings from 30 of the 80 monitored glaciers, which have had continuous measurements since the 1980s.
The average annual ice loss since 2000, repeated in 2005, was about 0.6 metres of water equivalent, a scientific measurement used by glaciologists.
On average, 1 metre water equivalent corresponds to ice about 1.1 metres thick, according to the UN.