The net loss of a glacier's ice over time as melting and calving at its margin outpace the accumulation of new snow and ice further up its length, causing the glacier's front to migrate back up-valley. Sustained glacial retreat across most of the world's mountain glaciers over the past century is among the clearest visible signals of global warming.
Facts
Partially Attested
TimescaleDecades to centuries (documented retreat since 1850) 1 The source dates the well-documented retreat to the period since 1850 and gives no single characteristic timescale for the process itself. Process Type Connections
Sources
1. Retreat of glaciers since 1850, Wikipedia
Causes section, mass balance paragraph
If the accumulation is less than the ablation, the glacier will retreat.
Introduction, opening sentence
The retreat of glaciers since 1850 is a well-documented effect of climate change.
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