Utah Study Estimates 48 Billion Tons of Hidden Glacier Water From 51,000 Rock Glaciers
Updated
Updated · Nautilus · Aug 27
Utah Study Estimates 48 Billion Tons of Hidden Glacier Water From 51,000 Rock Glaciers
3 articles · Updated · Nautilus · Aug 27
Summary
48 billion metric tons of water may be locked in about 51,000 rock glaciers worldwide, according to a University of Utah-led study that used Mount Timpanogos measurements to scale up a global estimate.
At Timpanogos, researchers mapped more than 230 gravity readings across the buried glacier, tracking tiny density-driven changes in gravitational acceleration while correcting for the sun and moon.
The resulting 3D model found the glacier is 83% ice and 17% surface rock, holding about 1.5 million cubic meters of frozen water—roughly 600 Olympic swimming pools.
Rock glaciers are hard to measure because loose rock can bury them under tens to hundreds of feet of debris, yet the hidden ice can act as climate-resilient water storage and alpine habitat.
The findings sharpen estimates for Utah, which has 836 such glaciers, and suggest buried mountain ice could matter more for water planning as the West warms.