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Science 8 April 1994:
Vol. 264. no. 5156, pp. 243 - 245
DOI: 10.1126/science.264.5156.243
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Articles

Quantifying Global Warming from the Retreat of Glaciers

Johannes Oerlemans 1

1 Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research, Utrecht University, Princetonplein 5, 3584 CC Utrecht, Netherlands

Records of glacier fluctuations compiled by the World Glacier Monitoring Service can be used to derive an independent estimate of global warming during the last 100 years. Records of different glaciers are made comparable by a two-step scaling procedure: one allowing for differences in glacier geometry, the other for differences in climate sensitivity. The retreat of glaciers during the last 100 years appears to be coherent over the globe. On the basis of modeling of the climate sensitivity of glaciers, the observed glacier retreat can be explained by a linear warming trend of 0.66 kelvin per century.

Submitted on November 8, 1993
Accepted on February 2, 1994

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)