Golubin Glacier, Kyrgyzstan, 2012

As part of a community effort, the Glacier Mass Balance Intercomparison Exercise, Glambie, has compiled all major studies using observations from a wealth of different techniques to provide an estimate of the world’s glacier mass change over the last two decades. The results, published in the journal Nature, show that ice melting from glaciers around the world is depleting regional freshwater resources – particularly for local communities in Central Asia and the Central Andes, where  runoff is dominated by glaciers during warm and dry seasons.

This photograph, taken in 2012, shows Golubin Glacier in Kyrgyzstan, in Central Asia.

Read full story: Glacier melt intensifying freshwater loss and accelerating sea-level rise