Research revises estimates of glacial ice volume, suggesting that there is less ice in the world’s glaciers than previously thought. The findings have implications on freshwater and global sea level rise.

The worldwide survey, published in Nature Geoscience, measures the velocity and depth of more than 250,000 mountain glaciers. The research revises earlier estimates of glacial ice volume, now suggesting that there is 20% less ice available for sea level rise in the world’s glaciers than previously thought.

The results have implications on the availability of water for drinking, power generation, agriculture and other uses worldwide. The findings also change projections for climate-driven sea level rise expected to affect populations around the globe.

«Finding how much ice is stored in glaciers is a key step to anticipate the effects of climate change on society,» said Romain Millan, a postdoctoral scholar at IGE and lead author of the study. «With this information, we will be closer to knowing the size of the biggest glacial water reservoirs and also to consider how to respond to a world with less glaciers.»

«The finding of less ice is important and will have implications for millions of people around the world,» said Mathieu Morlighem, the Evans Family Professor of Earth Sciences at Dartmouth and co-author of the study. «Even with this research, however, we still don’t have a perfect picture of how much water is really locked away in these glaciers»

The new atlas covers 98% of the world’s glaciers. According to the study, many of these glaciers are shallower than estimated in prior research. Double counting of glaciers along the peripheries of Greenland and Antarctica also clouded previous data sets.

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Materials provided by Dartmouth College. Original written by David Hirsch. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.