Record-breaking glacier melt on Svalbard

A study by Norwegian researchers has examined the 2024 melt season on Svalbard. It found that the archipelago's glaciers lost ice faster that summer than in any earlier melt season recorded there. Glaciologists working for Norsk Polarinstitutt (the Norwegian Polar Institute) wrote about the work on Instagram. They said Svalbard supplied 10% of the sea-level rise that came from every glacier on Earth in 2024.

Glaciers cover 53% of the land surface of Svalbard. Within a few months in 2024, about 1% of all the ice on the archipelago disappeared. Greenland, which is about 50 times bigger, lost almost the same amount over the same stretch of time.

The researchers also gathered data from other areas around the Barents Sea, including the Russian archipelagos Franz Josef Land and Novaya Zemlya. Taking these areas together, they concluded that the 2024 ice loss was sufficient to lift global sea level by about one quarter of a millimetre.

The study says most of the melting happened during six weeks. One persistent atmospheric circulation pattern held over the region and air temperatures reached record highs. Such heat is still very rare under current climate conditions, but scientists think it may be ordinary by the end of this century. The study describes the Svalbard summer of 2024 as a preview of how Arctic glaciers may melt in the future, and of conditions toward the end of the 21st century. It also states that Svalbard is recognised as a High-Arctic archipelago particularly exposed to fast warming, with rates higher than the already raised Arctic average.

Retreating glaciers on Svalbard send more freshwater into the ocean, and permafrost releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, the report added. The Barents Observer had reported on the permafrost issue earlier.