Recent evolution and perspectives of European glacial landscapes

European glaciers have retreated globally since the end of the LIA. They have alternating periods of strong retreat with the periods of stabilisation, even advance, in the 1920s and between the 1950s and 1990s. But the European glaciers have followed an intense trend of retreat in the 21st century, as average temperatures have risen. This has put many regions on the verge of losing their last glaciers, especially in Southern Europe, where rising temperatures are combined with increasing aridity. This situation has developed under conditions of a continued rise in pCO2, a weakened AMOC conditioned by the Greenland melting and the NAO in a predominantly positive phase. The temperature has increased over the last two decades, despite low orbital summer insolation, decreasing solar activity, and increasing aerosols. The evolution of European glaciers is fully in line with the rest of the world’s glaciers, with the exception of the limited sectors of the Karakorum and East Antarctica. The most drastic reduction is in the tropics, with the virtual disappearance of equatorial glaciers. This situation opens up new challenges for spatial planning and research.