Which glaciers are the largest in the world?

• Published in: Journal of Glaciology
• Main Authors: Ann Windnagel, Regine Hock, Fabien Maussion, Frank Paul, Philipp Rastner, Bruce Raup, Michael Zemp
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press 2023
• Subjects: Glacier delineation; glacier mapping; glacier monitoring; remote sensing; Environmental sciences; GE1-350; Meteorology. Climatology; QC851-999; Arctic; Antarctic; The Antarctic; Antarctic Peninsula; Patagonia; Greenland; Antarc*; Antarctica; glacier; Journal of Glaciology
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2022.61; https://doaj.org/article/5a48a88cea3a44049f131552d32b7a8f

Glacier monitoring has been internationally coordinated for more than 125 years. Despite this long history, there is no authoritative answer to the popular question: ‘Which glaciers are the largest in the world?’ Here, we present the first systematic assessment of this question and identify the largest glaciers in the world – distinct from the two ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica but including the glaciers on the Antarctic Peninsula. We identify the largest glaciers in two domains: on each of the seven geographical continents and in the 19 first-order glacier regions defined by the Global Terrestrial Network for Glaciers. Ranking glaciers by area is non-trivial. It depends on how a glacier is defined and mapped and also requires differentiating between a glacier and a glacier complex, i.e. glaciers that meet at ice divides such as ice caps and icefields. It also depends on the availability of a homogenized global glacier inventory. Using separate rankings for glaciers and glacier complexes, we find that the largest glacier complexes have areas on the order of tens of thousands of square kilometers whereas the largest glaciers are several thousands of square kilometers. The world's largest glaciers and glacier complexes are located in the Antarctic, Arctic and Patagonia.