The presence of glaciers on Heard Island provides an excellent opportunity to measure the rate of glacial retreat, as an indicator of climate change.
Records of the glaciers on Heard Island have many gaps, relative to those of more accessible glaciers located closer to populated areas. Glaciology research undertaken on the island in the summers of 2000/01 and 2003/04 attempted to fill some of these gaps. The research was concentrated on the Brown Glacier, on the north-eastern coast of the island.
Results from this study showed that the glacier had retreated 50 metres since the 2000/01, contributing to a retreat of approximately 1.1 kilometres since 1950 (a decrease in total volume of about 38 per cent). The glacier was also found to have decreased in thickness by up to 11 metres on its lower slopes and 4 metres on its upper slopes – this translates to a loss of about 8 million cubic metres of ice each year over the three years.
More recent research by researchers from the Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (SAEF) initiative used remotely sensed data to present a multi-year, manually mapped glacier inventory for Heard Island for 1947, 1988 and 2019. This glacier inventory revealed an acceleration of glacier loss over recent decades. For more details see the paper here.