Glaciers and climate change

These past few decades glaciers over much of the world started to shrink and draw back. Glaciers are retreating in many mountain areas of the world. Since 1850 the glaciers of the European Alps have lost about 30 to 40% of their surface area and about half of their volume. However, the range of extremes observed on individual glaciers is roughly one order of magnitude higher than the mean value of length or mass changes. The 1991 discovery of the 5,000 year-old "ice man," preserved in a glacier in the European Alps, fascinated the world. But this also points to the fact that this glacier is retreating farther now than it has in 5,000 years.