Record-breaking ice loss in Central Asia in 2025

May 21, 2026

A new international study led by Lander Van Tricht (Vrije Universiteit Brussel, ETH Zürich), shows that glaciers in Central Asia experienced their most extreme mass-loss year on record in 2025, designated as the ‘International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation by the United Nations, following an initiative from Tajikistan.

Central Asian glaciers are a critical water source for millions of people living downstream in arid regions. During the dry summer months, glacier meltwater sustains rivers that support agriculture, hydropower production, ecosystems and drinking water supplies across countries such as Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. “Glaciers in Central Asia act as natural water towers,” Van Tricht explains. “As glaciers shrink, meltwater can temporarily increase, but eventually runoff declines as less ice remains. This raises major concerns for long-term water security in the region.” The strong dependence on these shared water resources, combined with their unequal distribution between countries, already contributes to recurring tensions and so-called water conflicts in Central Asia.

Using field observations from 16 glaciers across the Tien Shan and Pamir mountains, combined with regional glacier modelling, the researchers estimate that glaciers in Central Asia lost around 30 km³ of ice in a single year, equivalent to nearly 2% of the region’s remaining glacier volume. For comparison, this corresponds to roughly 30% of all glacier ice that still remains today in the European Alps. The study shows that the extreme losses were caused by exceptionally warm spring and summer temperatures, combined with a strong reduction in snowfall frequency during the melt season. These conditions triggered an unusually early disappearance of seasonal snow cover, exposing darker glacier ice earlier in the year and strongly amplifying melt through the snow-ice albedo feedback.

“2025 stands out as an exceptional year because the extreme losses occurred almost everywhere across Central Asia simultaneously,” said Dr Lander Van Tricht, lead author of the study. “Nine of the 16 monitored glaciers experienced their most negative mass balance ever observed, while many others ranked among their worst years on record.” The strongest losses occurred in the western Pamir and western Tien Shan, where some glaciers lost between 2 and 4% of their total ice volume in a single year. Regional modelling further indicates that 64% of all experienced their most negative year since at least 1991.

The researchers also show that the 2025 event is part of a broader global pattern of recent record-breaking glacier melt years, following extreme losses previously observed in, among others, the European Alps and the Pyrenees (2022), western North America (2023), and Svalbard (2024). “In the Alps, extreme glacier melt is often linked to short but intense heatwaves,” Van Tricht added. “In Central Asia, however, the 2025 event was driven by persistently warm conditions from spring until late summer, combined with very limited snowfall during the melt season.”

The study concludes that Central Asian glaciers are becoming increasingly vulnerable as warming temperatures not only enhance melting, but also reduce the frequency of snowfall events that would normally protect glaciers during summer. “We cannot prevent glaciers from responding to climate warming,” Van Tricht said. “But sustained glacier monitoring and improved modelling are essential to better understand future water availability and the impacts on downstream communities.”

Although 2025 was the most extreme glacier melt year ever recorded in Central Asia, the researchers warn that such conditions could increasingly become the new normal in a warming climate.

Reference:

The publication is freely available online at : https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ae6712

Contact:

Lander Van Tricht : lander.van.tricht@vub.be, phone available on request