Researchers have claimed that glaciers will lose their self-cooling ability and begin warming by 2040.

The Pellicciotti research group at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria said they compiled and re-analysed a global dataset of observations before making the prediction.

The findings were published in Nature Climate Change, saying the natural ability would likely peak within the next decade before glaciers begin heating faster and melting accelerates.

Thomas Shaw, a postdoctoral researcher from the team, said they collected data in August 2022 on the Glacier de Corbassiere in the Swiss Alps

At 2,600 metres, under a clear blue sky and 17 degrees Celsius temperature, he measured how the glacier was struggling to maintain its cooling effect.

He said: ‘This effect will not last long, and a trend shift will ensue before the middle of the century.'

The researchers claimed that while global air temperatures continue to rise, glacier surfaces remain slightly cooler.

Thomas said he and colleagues gathered hourly data from 350 weather stations across 62 glaciers worldwide.

Their analysis concluded that near-surface glacier temperatures increase by 0.83 degrees Celsius for every one degree Celsius of ambient warming.

The team predicts that between the 2020s and 2040s, glaciers will lose their decoupling ability and recouple to the warming atmosphere.

The study added that glaciers' retreat is inevitable.

Thomas added: ‘We must accept the committed ice loss and put our full efforts into limiting further climatic warming rather than into ineffective geo-engineering strategies.'