A "panic button" for Earth has been discovered in the Arctic: it's warming seven times faster than the rest of the planet (video).

In recent decades, scientists have increasingly discussed the climate crisis and its effects on the planet. The world has already faced rising temperatures and extreme weather events, but not all regions of the Earth are warming at the same rate. For instance, it is known that since 1979, the The Arctic is warming nearly four times faster than the global average, as reported by Science Alert.

Spitsbergen, an archipelago located off the northeastern coast of Greenland, unfortunately, is at the forefront of climate change, warming seven times faster than the rest of the world. More than half of the archipelago is covered by glaciers, and scientists believe that their complete loss would result in a rise in global sea levels by 1.7 centimeters. Fortunately, this will not happen overnight, but the glaciers in the Arctic are indeed quite vulnerable to the warming world.

In a new study, scientists aimed to gain a better understanding of the glaciers on Spitsbergen and beyond. The team utilized an AI model to analyze millions of satellite images of the archipelago taken over the last four decades. The team's results revealed something particularly alarming: local glaciers are retreating faster than ever.

According to Professor of Glaciology and Earth Observation at the University of Bristol, Jonathan Bamber, he and his colleagues examined the glaciers that flow directly into the ocean. It is worth noting that these glaciers are also known as those that "terminate in the sea." Most glaciers in Spitsbergen fall into this category and act as ecological pumps in the fjords they flow into, transporting nutrient-rich meltwater to the ocean surface. Previously, scientists also discovered that these glaciers can alter ocean circulation patterns.

At the point where glaciers meet the sea, they primarily lose mass through calving— a process where large chunks of ice break off from the glacier and fall into the ocean. The team believes that understanding this process is key to more accurately predicting future glacier mass loss, as calving can lead to faster ice movement within the glacier itself and ultimately into the sea.

Despite the importance of this process, understanding it has remained a challenge for glaciologists, as the process itself is extremely difficult to observe and model. According to Professor Bamber, to tackle this issue, he and his colleagues utilized past data.

Previously, during glacier studies, researchers painstakingly examined satellite photos of glaciers to analyze the boundaries between ice and ocean. However, in this new work, scientists employed AI: artificial intelligence analyzed millions of satellite images of 149 glaciers terminating in the sea. All the photos were taken between 1985 and 2023—meaning the retreat of glaciers was studied on an unprecedented scale and volume.

The results show that 91% of the glaciers terminating in the sea across the archipelago have significantly retreated. Since 1985, over 800 km² of ice has been lost, which equates to an annual loss of 24 km² per year.

The largest spike was recorded in 2016 when calving rates doubled in response to periods of extreme warming. That year also saw the rainiest summer and autumn in Spitsbergen since 1955, including a record 42 mm of precipitation in a single day in October. This was accompanied by unusually warm and ice-free seas.

It is important to note that in addition to long-term retreat, these glaciers annually retreat in the summer and advance again in the winter, often by several hundred meters. However, now scientists have found something concerning: 62% of the glaciers in Spitsbergen experience these seasonal cycles. While this phenomenon has been well documented in Greenland, it was previously observed only for a few glaciers in Spitsbergen, primarily through manual digitization.

The authors of the study also compared seasonal changes in glaciers with seasonal fluctuations in air and ocean temperatures. The results indicate that as ocean temperatures rise in spring, the glaciers retreat almost immediately. Essentially, this serves as a good demonstration of what scientists have long suspected: seasonal tides and ebbs are driven by changes in ocean temperature.

According to another co-author of the study, senior research fellow at the University of Bristol, Tian Li, the results indicate that marine glaciers are extremely sensitive to extreme climate events, with the highest retreat rates observed in recent years coinciding with extreme heatwaves on Earth.

Such types of glaciers can be found throughout the Arctic, particularly around Greenland, the largest ice mass in the Northern Hemisphere. What is happening to the glaciers in Spitsbergen is likely to be replicated elsewhere.