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How Long Will It Take All the Earth's Ice to Melt

How would sea level change if all glaciers melted?

There is still some uncertainty about the full volume of glaciers and ice caps on Earth, but if all of them were to melt, global sea level would rise approximately 70 meters (approximately 230 feet), flooding every coastal city on the planet.

Learn more:

  • USGS Water Science School: Glaciers and Icecaps
  • National Snow and Ice Data Center: Facts about Glaciers
  • U.S. Global Change Research Program: Sea Level Rise

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Lyell and Maclure glaciers, as they were mapped in 1883 by Willard D. Johnson of the U.S. Geological Survey

Are today's glaciers leftovers from the Pleistocene ice age?

Yes and no. It depends on which glaciers you are considering. Parts of the Antarctic Continent have had continuous glacier cover for perhaps as long as 20 million years. Other areas, such as valley glaciers of the Antarctic Peninsula and glaciers of the Transantarctic Mountains may date from the early Pleistocene. For Greenland, ice cores and...

Alaska Interior mountain range shot with snow capped mountains.

How many glaciers currently exist in Alaska?

Based on the most recent comprehensive survey in 2011, there were about 27,000 glaciers in Alaska. However, the number of glaciers is a misleading statistic. Scientists are more interested in total glacial land coverage as a measure. The number of glaciers is less important since large ones can split up into several as they retreat. The amount of...

Image: Layers of Ice, Hayden Glacier

How old is glacier ice?

The age of the oldest glacier ice in Antarctica may approach 1,000,000 years old The age of the oldest glacier ice in Greenland is more than 100,000 years old The age of the oldest Alaskan glacier ice ever recovered (from a basin between Mt. Bona and Mt. Churchill) is about 30,000 years old. Glacier flow moves newly formed ice through the entire...

Juneau Icefield

Is glacier ice a type of rock?

Glacier ice, like limestone (for example), is a type of rock. Glacier ice is actually a mono-mineralic rock (a rock made of only one mineral, like limestone which is composed of the mineral calcite). The mineral ice is the crystalline form of water (H 2 O). Most glacier ice forms through the metamorphism of tens of thousands of individual...

Bear Glacier

How much of the Earth's water is stored in glaciers?

About 2.1% of all of Earth's water is frozen in glaciers. 97.2% is in the oceans and inland seas 2.1% is in glaciers 0.6% is in groundwater and soil moisture less than 1% is in the atmosphere less than 1% is in lakes and rivers less than 1% is in all living plants and animals. About three-quarters of Earth's freshwater is stored in glaciers...

Glacier off Sargent Icefield
This image shows the perimeter of Sperry Glacier in Glacier National Park in 1966,1998, 2005, and 2015.

How do we know glaciers are shrinking?

Repeat photography and aerial / satellite photo analysis provide evidence of glacier loss in terms of shape and area. The USGS Benchmark Glacier project has collected mass balance data on a network of glaciers in Alaska, Washington, and Montana for decades, quantifying trends of mass loss at all sites. Extensive field data collection at these...

Image: Getting the Shot, Grinnell Glacier, Glacier National Park.

Is there a size criterion for a glacier?

While there is no global standard for what size a body of ice must be to be considered a glacier, USGS scientists in Glacier National Park use the commonly accepted guideline of 0.1 square kilometers (about 25 acres) as the minimum size of a glacier. Below this size, ice is generally stagnant and does not have enough mass to move. Learn more:...

Glacier Animation

The simulation below reflects the predicted exponential rise in atmospheric CO2 concentrations, a 2xCO2 "global warming" scenario, with a concurrent warming of 2-3 degrees centigrade (4-5 degrees Fahrenheit) by the year 2050. In addition it assumes that precipitation, primarily in the form of rain, will increase over the same time period about 10 percent (based on the

...

PubTalk 9/2015 — Coral Reefs, Climate Change, and Atoll Sustainability

Will Micronesians become the U.S.'s first climate change refugees?

by Curt Storlazzi, USGS Research Geologist and Oceanographer

  • Sea level is rising, threatening low-lying atoll islands throughout the western Pacific Ocean
  • Climate change is degrading the coral reefs that atoll islands have developed upon, decreasing

Cape Cod Sea Level Rise

U. S. Geological Survey Scientists Carol Johnson, Eric White and Tim McCobb prepare to deploy geophysical equipment in a coastal embayment April 9, 2015 in Falmouth, Massachusetts. This equipment will outline the geological conditions under the water, which will give the scientists a better understanding of the geology and hydrology of the sandy glacial deposits underlying

...

Impacts of Melting Glaciers on Gulf of Alaska

For questions about this project, please contact the speaker, John Crusius at jcrusius@usgs.gov, (206) 543-6978. The northern Gulf of Alaska (GoA) maintains a productive ecosystem, with commercially important fisheries. Virtually all of the many glaciers that line the northern GoA coast are retreating, yet the impacts on the marine

The Cold Facts About Melting Glaciers

Most glaciers in Washington and Alaska are dramatically shrinking in response to a warming climate.

USGS scientist Edward Josberger discusses research from the past 50 years to measure changes in the mass (length and thickness) of three glaciers in Alaska and Washington. These are the longest such records in North America and among the longest in the world.

Seal Levels and Climate

San Clemente Island, California: "Stair-step" landscape of uplifted marine terraces on western San Clemente Island. The lowest terrace, where the road near the shore is visible, has been dated to 120,000 years by U-series analysis of corals (Muhs and others, 2002).

How Long Will It Take All the Earth's Ice to Melt

Source: https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/how-would-sea-level-change-if-all-glaciers-melted