Glacial lakes are rapidly growing in response to climate change and glacier retreat. The role of these lakes as terrestrial storage for glacial meltwater is currently unknown and not accounted for in global sea level assessments. Here, we map glacier lakes around the world using 254,795 satellite images and use scaling relations to estimate that global glacier lake volume increased by around 48%, to 156.5 km³, between 1990 and 2018. This methodology provides a near-global database and analysis of glacial lake extent, volume and change. Over the study period, lake numbers and total area increased by 53 and 51%, respectively. Median lake size has increased 3%; however, the 95th percentile has increased by around 9%. Currently, glacial lakes hold about 0.43 mm of sea level equivalent. As glaciers continue to retreat and feed glacial lakes, the implications for glacial lake outburst floods and water resources are of considerable societal and ecological importance.

冰川湖正因气候变化和冰川退缩而迅速增长。这些湖泊作为冰川融化水的陆地储存的作用目前尚不明确，全球海平面评估中并未考虑这些作用。在这里，我们使用254,795张卫星图像绘制了全球冰川湖的图，并使用比例关系估计全球冰川湖的体积增加了约48％，达到156.5 km ³，在1990年至2018年之间。这种方法提供了一个近乎全球的数据库，并分析了冰川湖的范围，数量和变化。在研究期间，湖泊数量和总面积分别增加了53％和51％。中位数湖泊面积增加了3％；但是，第95个百分位数增加了大约9％。目前，冰川湖泊的海平面当量约为0.43毫米。随着冰川继续退缩并为冰川湖供食，冰川湖爆发洪水和水资源的影响具有重要的社会和生态意义。