Global-scale variability of glacier velocity and mass loss across terminus environments
Abstract
The environment in which a glacier terminates can strongly influence its behaviour, stability and future evolution, yet the relationship between terminus type and glacier dynamics at the global scale remains poorly constrained. Here we present a globally-complete classification of glacier termini distinguishing between land, lake, marine and shelf environments, and integrate it with datasets of glacier geometry, dynamics and climate. We show that although lake-, marine- and shelf-terminating glaciers comprise only 3.2% of glaciers globally, they account for over half of global glacier area and mass loss. We also show that lake- and marine-terminating glaciers flow, on average, 10% and 44% faster than land-terminating glaciers, respectively. Furthermore, specific (area-normalised) mass loss rates at lake-terminating glaciers are 57% greater than those at land- and marine-terminating glaciers. Our findings underscore the need for improved representation of non-land glacier termini in models of glacier evolution and sea-level rise, and suggest that distinguishing the environmental and geometric controls of termini on glacier dynamics remains an important challenge for future research.
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BibTeX
@article{mallalieu2026globalscale,
title = {{Global-scale variability of glacier velocity and mass loss across terminus environments}},
author = {Joseph Mallalieu and Jonathan L. Carrivick and Matthias Huss and Iestyn D. Barr and Nicholas E. Barrand and Cassandra L. Raby},
journal = {Nature Communications},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1038/s41467-026-78654-y},
url = {https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-78654-y},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Global-scale variability of glacier velocity and mass loss across terminus environments
AU - Joseph Mallalieu
AU - Jonathan L. Carrivick
AU - Matthias Huss
AU - Iestyn D. Barr
AU - Nicholas E. Barrand
AU - Cassandra L. Raby
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/23
JO - Nature Communications
DO - 10.1038/s41467-026-78654-y
UR - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-78654-y
AB - The environment in which a glacier terminates can strongly influence its behaviour, stability and future evolution, yet the relationship between terminus type and glacier dynamics at the global scale remains poorly constrained. Here we present a globally-complete classification of glacier termini distinguishing between land, lake, marine and shelf environments, and integrate it with datasets of glacier geometry, dynamics and climate. We show that although lake-, marine- and shelf-terminating glaciers comprise only 3.2% of glaciers globally, they account for over half of global glacier area and mass loss. We also show that lake- and marine-terminating glaciers flow, on average, 10% and 44% faster than land-terminating glaciers, respectively. Furthermore, specific (area-normalised) mass loss rates at lake-terminating glaciers are 57% greater than those at land- and marine-terminating glaciers. Our findings underscore the need for improved representation of non-land glacier termini in models of glacier evolution and sea-level rise, and suggest that distinguishing the environmental and geometric controls of termini on glacier dynamics remains an important challenge for future research.
SN - 2041-1723
ER -