Greenland's Ice Sheet Has Now Shrunk for 30 Consecutive Years

Greenland's ice sheet, which covers about 80% of the island's territory, has now shrunk for 30 consecutive years, according to the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS). Researchers describe this three-decade run of negative total mass balance, meaning the ice sheet loses more mass than it gains each year, as a "climate signal."

The ice sheet's total mass balance last increased during the 1995/96 melting season. It has been negative every year since. During the most recent 2025/26 melting season, it lost approximately 173 billion tons of ice, following a loss of 130 billion tons the previous season. The largest single-year loss on record, 458 billion tons, was measured in 2012.

"A single year can be heavily influenced by the weather and therefore does not tell us much about long-term climate trends," said Signe Hillerup Larsen, a researcher in the Department of Glaciology and Climate at GEUS. "That is why we researchers typically look at a 30-year period when we need to say something about the climate." She added that the Greenland Ice Sheet has now experienced 30 consecutive years of overall shrinkage. "This strongly underlines the grim message: global warming is accelerating the melt and causing the Greenland Ice Sheet to shrink over time," she said.