Iceland’s glaciers are melting faster again

Iceland’s glaciers are once again melting at rates comparable to those recorded before 2010, according to mbl.is. The acceleration has been observed over the past four to five years, following a period when the rate of retreat slowed slightly.

Iceland’s major glaciers have shrunk substantially over the past 130 years, while some smaller glaciers have disappeared. The most rapid melting occurred between 1995 and 2010. Although the retreat slowed somewhat after 2010, it remained significant.

If current trends continue, glaciers including Torfajökull, Snæfellsjökull, Tindfjallajökull, eastern Hofsjökull and Þrándarjökull could disappear in the coming decades. This would follow the disappearance of the Ok glacier several years ago.

Between 1890 and 2019, Iceland’s glaciers are estimated to have lost between 410 billion and 670 billion tonnes of ice. About half of that loss, or between 220 billion and 260 billion tonnes, occurred between 1994 and 2019.

During that period, Vatnajökull thinned by 45 metres, Langjökull by 66 metres and Hofsjökull by 56 metres. Vatnajökull lost about 12 per cent of its ice, Langjökull 29 per cent and Hofsjökull 25 per cent. Since 1995, the glaciers have thinned by 15 metres, 30 metres and 25 metres respectively.

The figures are based on data from 2019 and 2020. Researchers from the Institute of Earth Sciences, the Icelandic Meteorological Office and Landsvirkjun have continued monitoring the glaciers.

Guðfinna Aðalgeirsdóttir, a glaciologist and professor of geophysics at the University of Iceland’s Faculty of Earth Sciences, said the research had not yet been completed, but that continued retreat was clear across all the glaciers.

“The last four to five years have been similar to the period before 2010,” she said. “The change after 2010, when the retreat of the glaciers slowed, is being reversed.”

Based on the group’s data, Vatnajökull is again thinning by an average of about one metre per year, while Langjökull and Hofsjökull are thinning by between one and two metres annually.

Guðfinna said the fluctuations were linked to the temperature of the ocean. She noted that warmer seawater reached the waters around Iceland in 1995, and that the glaciers had clearly responded to the changes in temperature.

Researchers have installed 60 measuring stakes on Vatnajökull and about 20 each on Langjökull and Hofsjökull. In spring, they measure how much snow has fallen during the winter and added to the glaciers. In autumn, usually in October, they measure how much ice has melted during the summer.