Climate

Guest post: Greenland ice sheet shrinks for 30th year in a row

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Based on a feed excerpt; full article content has not been acquired. Source evidence retrieved 01/11/2026, 12:50:25 UTC.

Briefings

Greenland's surface mass balance reached its sixth-highest level in 46 years, losing 519 billion tonnes of ice during the 2025-26 period. This represents a 30th consecutive year of net ice loss, with the ice sheet losing approximately 135 billion tonnes in total mass balance. The loss occurred despite a relatively cool summer, indicating that the ice sheet is not responding to extreme weather events. The findings are based on data from the 12 months ending August 2026, sourced from the Polar Portal and Carbon Brief analyses.

Key points

• Greenland's surface mass balance reached its sixth-highest level in 46 years, losing 519 billion tonnes of ice during the 2025-26 period.
• The ice sheet lost approximately 135 billion tonnes in total mass balance, marking the 30th consecutive year of net ice loss.

Context

This finding comes from a guest post by Dr Martin Stendel, a climate scientist at the Danish Meteorological Institute. The data represents the 12-month period to August 2026, which is the latest available snapshot for this specific year. The analysis compares current conditions against the 1981-2010 average to establish a baseline for climate change impacts.

Limitations

The evidence is limited to the 12-month period ending August 2026, which is the most recent available snapshot for this specific year. The data relies on average of three climate models for total mass balance calculations. The 30-year trend is based on historical data from 1981-2010, which may not fully capture future variability. The source material is from a guest post by Dr Martin Stendel, climate scientist at the Danish Meteorological Institute, part of the Polar Portal.

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