Even if global emissions targets are met, much of the planet's glacial mass would still vanish, according to an international study led by Pittsburgh's College of Engineering.
Assistant professor David Rounce led an international effort to produce new projections of glacier mass loss through the century under different emissions scenarios.
The work showed that the world could lose as much as 41 per cent of its total glacier mass this century or as little as 26 per cent, depending on the success - or otherwise - of today’s climate change mitigation efforts.
The worst-case scenario would mean more than two-thirds of the total number of glaciers would vanish by the end of the century, contributing to ever-increasing sea levels around the world. This scenario would be triggered by continued investment in fossil fuels.
The areas most affected by this temperature increase would be smaller glacial regions, such as Central Europe and Western Canada...