Glaciers in Sweden and Norway have been melting at an increasingly rapid pace, driven by the ongoing warming of the planet due to climate change.
In 2024, which was officially recorded by the EU's Copernicus as the warmest year in Europe’s history, the glaciers in these Nordic countries experienced an average melt of approximately 1.8 metres - an alarming rate that exceeds historical averages.
This dramatic loss of glacial ice is raising serious concerns among scientists and environmental experts. Glaciology specialists warn that if this trend continues, many of these glaciers could vanish entirely within the coming decades.
"We need to take care of these small ice caps. They are incredibly important to us humans - for energy, agriculture, water supply, everything! The whole ecology of the mountains and the Alps depends on this water coming and going," explains Erik Huss, a glaciologist in Sweden.
"When we arrived at Kårsaglaciären in August, I was shocked to see that the entire front had collapsed. I got a sick feeling and tears in my eyes. How could it have disappeared so quickly?"
This year, heavy snowfall has helped the glaciers recover slightly, but professor Nina Kirchner says this has just created a false sense of security.
"The most important thing is not to take this snowy winter as a sign that there is no danger. I know that in the long run it will not matter, in the long run the glaciers will shrink in Sweden," Kirchner says.
Although Glacier melting is a natural part of Earth's climate cycle, the unprecedented speed at which this is occurring is too fast for ecosystems to adapt.
According to the World Meteorological Organisation, around 70% of the planet’s freshwater comes from glaciers and snow, supporting agriculture, industry, energy production, and drinking water supplies. Found on every continent, the world’s more than 275,000 glaciers span roughly 700,000 square kilometres and contain an estimated 170,000 cubic kilometres of ice.
Beyond their role in the water cycle, glaciers are time capsules of our planet’s history. Their ice contains invaluable records of past climates, environmental changes, and even human activity.
As glaciers retreat, we not only lose these irreplaceable historical archives, but also the fragile ecosystems they support. This loss threatens global biodiversity and disrupts delicate ecological balances that have taken millennia to develop.
The IPCC has warned that if we continue to warm the planet at this rate, four out of five glaciers in Sweden will have shrunk significantly or melted completely by the year 2100.
