Global Glacier Extinction Explorer

guillego 153 points 57 comments September 11, 2026
glacierextinction.com · View on Hacker News

Discussion Highlights (13 comments)

maelito

Just checked the Glacier Blanc in the Massif des Écrins. The map's glacier vector perimeter is completely wrong : the glacier has retreated hundreds of meters already. I hope this is just a map thing, and not the base for these predictions :/

mitxela

We chose this and we're still choosing it right now.

a1371

I don't understand why a glacier would survive longer in the 4°C scenario than 2.5°C but this seems to suggest so.

mbty

Okjökull is considered extinct, yet according to this website it should survive until the 2070s at least? It also gives 2079 for 1.5°C vs. 2075 for 2.7°C (I know that the local dynamic is not the same as the global one, but still).

snthd

The maximum category is "Survives through 2100". Not great, not terrible.

Aditya_0315

Reviewed this and it is quite impressive. The map adds much more reality to the data as opposed to regular climate maps. The one feature that I think would be awesome to add would be an interactivity layer to the bottom-right panel indicating the extinction years where you can click or hover over the warming period to view the affected glaciers on the map and their numbers.

Kapura

Obviously nobody wants this, but if i cant ask my chatbot what it thinks of the texts my wife sends me we'd be lost as a civilization.

tito

Another dimension to add is how global warming is uniquely heating up at the 4,500 to 5,500 m elevation mark, coincidentally right where glaciers are (tldr properties of how our atmosphere works and the pollution we put in it ends up being a laser beam at the same height as glaciers form) Paper here: eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/id/eprint/235707/1/NATREVEARTHENVIRON-24-558_-_Pepin_final.pdf 10.1038/s43017-025-00740-4 Pepin, N. et al. (2025). "Elevation-dependent climate change in mountain environments." Nature Reviews Earth & Environment 6(12), 772-788.

davely

In 2004, I visited New Zealand. It was my first international trip as part of a 6 week long geology field camp. One of the coolest experiences was getting to visit the Fox Glacier and Franz Josef Glacier on the South Island. Checking this out, I don't see the Fox Glacier or Franz Josef Glacier specifically listed in the search field, but moving the map around, I was able to find the ice fields. I see that they both will "survive" to 2100, but I wonder in what state. Check out this time lapse video from 2013 to 2018 showing the Franz Josef Glacier's drastic retreat! [3] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Josef_Glacier [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox_Glacier [3] https://youtu.be/LUs_20kRHDw?si=k1nJB2z_kn8T--uT&t=17

ourmandave

There was an episode of Northern Exposure where an entire frozen mammoth was exposed. Before the main character could report this amazing find to anyone to be preserved in a museum one of the locals dragged it to house and butchered it for steaks.

tito

For anyone here looking to "do something" about global warming...One thing we're working on is how to avert the worst impacts of the 2026 El Niño, and use that as a way to break open a new conversation about the warming planet and what we can do about it. One thing we need help with today is finding any other events at New York Climate Week that are about El Niño to feature on our site: https://elninoready.earth/

deviner7575

Doesn't work on safari

dawnerd

Weird seeing this posted as I’m up in Alaska right now viewing glaciers and being sad about how much they’ve receded.

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