Are humans responsible for melting glaciers?

Glaciers have been melting since the mid-19th century when a period known as the Little Ice Age came to an end.

To see how the rate’s been changed by humans, scientists looked at how glaciers changed in size at different points in history by using computers to map data about areas.

A global glacier database called the Randolph Glacier Inventory made it all possible.

The Artesonraju Glacier in Cordillera Blanca, Peru (Ben Marzeion)

Between 1851 and 2010, only one quarter of glacial mass loss was due to human-induced climate change, they worked out.

But during the last two decades of that period the human contribution rose to two thirds.

The researchers, whose findings appear in the journal Science, used climate computer simulations to map glacier changes everywhere in the world outside Antarctica.

(Richard Savoie/AP/PA)

“In our data we find unambiguous evidence of anthropogenic contribution to glacier mass loss.” – Dr Ben Barzeion

Lead researcher Dr Ben Barzeion, from the University of Innsbruck in Austria, said: “Typically, it takes glaciers decades or centuries to adjust to climate changes.

“In the 19th and first half of 20th century we observed that glacier mass loss attributable to human activity is hardly noticeable but since then has steadily increased.

“While we keep factors such as solar variability and volcanic eruptions unchanged, we are able to modify land use changes and greenhouse gas emissions in our models. In our data we find unambiguous evidence of anthropogenic contribution to glacier mass loss.”