The Ice

Antarctic Ice Loss Acceleration

Period	Mass Loss
1980s	48 ± 13 Gt/year
1990s	63 ± 24 Gt/year
2000s	139 ± 23 Gt/year
2010s	202 ± 22 Gt/year

Cryosphere Key Data

System	Metric	Value
Arctic sea ice	Lowest years in record	All 19 lowest since 2007
Arctic sea ice	Ice-free summer	As early as 2027
Greenland	Annual mass loss	266 billion tonnes/year
Greenland	Consecutive loss years	27 (since 1998)
Glaciers	Total lost since 1975	9 trillion tonnes
Glaciers	Lost in 2024 alone	450 gigatonnes
Glaciers	Last decade share	41% of all loss since 1976
Permafrost	Carbon stored	1,500 Gt (2× atmosphere)
Sea level	2024 rise	5.9 mm
Sea level	2100 projection	0.4–2.0 metres

Glacier Loss by Region

• Himalayas: lost ~40% of ice mass since the Little Ice Age
• Alps: lost 50% since 1950, down to 1.2 m average ice thickness in 2024
• Peru: 50%+ surface area lost in 60 years, 175 glaciers disappeared between 2016 and 2020

The Albedo Feedback

Ice reflects 50–80% of incoming solar radiation. Dark ocean water absorbs ~90%. As ice retreats, the Arctic warms 4× faster than the global average. Between 1992 and 2018, ice loss alone had a warming impact equivalent to 10% of all greenhouse gases emitted in that period.

Tipping Points Already Crossed

At 1.5°C of warming, multiple Earth-system tipping points are considered already crossed or committed:

• Greenland ice sheet — irreversible decline
• West Antarctic ice sheet — marine ice-sheet instability triggered
• Tropical coral reefs — mass die-off underway
• Boreal permafrost — thaw releasing stored carbon

Sources

• NSIDC — 2025 Arctic Sea Ice Minimum
• NOAA Arctic Report Card 2025
• NASA — Antarctic Ice Mass Loss
• Science — Antarctica in 2025
• NASA — Greenland Ice Mass Loss
• Nature — First Ice-Free Arctic Before 2030
• NOAA — Global Sea Level
• Nature — Overshooting Greenland Threshold
• Global Tipping Points Report 2023
• The Arctic Institute — Permafrost Emissions