Robert McNabb Jacob Bendle Jonathan Carrivick Jeremy Ely Tom Holt Bradley Markle Christopher J. McNeil Lindsey Nicholson Mauri Pelto Bethan Davies 2024 <div id="Abs1-section" class="c-article-section"><div id="Abs1-content" class="c-article-section__content"><p>Globally, glaciers and icefields contribute significantly to sea level rise. Here we show that ice loss from Juneau Icefield, a plateau icefield in Alaska, accelerated after 2005 AD. Rates of area shrinkage were 5 times faster from 2015–2019 than from 1979–1990. Glacier volume loss remained fairly consistent (0.65–1.01 km³<span>&nbsp;</span>a⁻¹) from 1770–1979 AD, rising to 3.08–3.72 km³<span>&nbsp;</span>a⁻¹<span>&nbsp;</span>from 1979–2010, and then doubling after 2010 AD, reaching 5.91 ± 0.80 km³<span>&nbsp;</span>a⁻¹<span>&nbsp;</span>(2010–2020). Thinning has become pervasive across the icefield plateau since 2005, accompanied by glacier recession and fragmentation. Rising equilibrium line altitudes and increasing ablation across the plateau has driven a series of hypsometrically controlled melt-accelerating feedbacks and resulted in the observed acceleration in mass loss. As glacier thinning on the plateau continues, a mass balance-elevation feedback is likely to inhibit future glacier regrowth, potentially pushing glaciers beyond a dynamic tipping point.</p></div></div> application/pdf 10.1038/s41467-024-49269-y en Nature Accelerating glacier volume loss on Juneau Icefield driven by hypsometry and melt-accelerating feedbacks article