According to a new study, glaciers around the world are melting quickly and in the first decade of this century, the rates of melting have increased thrice compared to the 20th century. The World Glacier Monitoring Service has collected data on glacier changes for over 120 years.

In order to carry out the study, researchers compared observations of the first decade of the 21st century to previous data from air-borne, in-situ observations in addition to reconstructions from written and pictorial sources.

As per Michael Zemp, Director of the World Glacier Monitoring Service and lead author of the study, at present, the observed glaciers are losing between half a meter and one meter of thickness of their ice every year. He said that it is two to three times higher than the average of the last century.

According to Zemp, "Exact measurements of this ice loss are reported from a few hundred glaciers only. However, these results are qualitatively confirmed from field and satellite-based observations for tens of thousands of glaciers around the world".

As per the international team, the rate of glacier melt at present doesn't include precedence at global level. The international service has published the intensive analysis of changes in global glacier in the Journal of Glaciology.

According to reports, the study indicates that the intense loss of ice in the past 20 years has led to a strong imbalance of glaciers in many parts of the world and there could be more loss of ice in future, with present condition of climate.