article published yes Sam Herreid author Francesca Pellicciotti author b28f055a-81ea-11ed-b70c-a9fe7f7b0e70 Rock debris can accumulate on glacier surfaces and dramatically reduce glacier melt. The structure of a debris cover is unique to each glacier and sensitive to climate. Despite this, debris cover has been omitted from global glacier models and forecasts of their response to a changing climate. Fundamental to resolving these omissions is a global map of debris cover and an estimate of its future spatial evolution. Here we use Landsat imagery and a detailed correction to the Randolph Glacier Inventory to show that 7.3% of mountain glacier area is debris covered and over half of Earth’s debris is concentrated in three regions: Alaska (38.6% of total debris-covered area), Southwest Asia (12.6%) and Greenland (12.0%). We use a set of new metrics, which include stage, the current position of a glacier on its trajectory towards reaching its spatial carrying capacity of debris cover, to quantify the state of glaciers. Debris cover is present on 44% of Earth’s glaciers and prominent (>1.0 km2) on 15%. Of Earth’s glaciers, 20% have a substantial percentage of debris cover for which the net stage is 36% and the bulk of individual glaciers have evolved beyond an optimal moraine configuration favourable for debris-cover expansion. Use of this dataset in global-scale models will enable improved estimates of melt over 10.6% of the global glacier domain. Springer Nature2020 eng General Earth and Planetary Sciences 1752-0894 1752-090810.1038/s41561-020-0615-0 139621-627 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-020-0630-1 yes Herreid, Sam, and Francesca Pellicciotti. “The State of Rock Debris Covering Earth’s Glaciers.” <i>Nature Geoscience</i>, vol. 13, no. 9, Springer Nature, 2020, pp. 621–27, doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-020-0615-0">10.1038/s41561-020-0615-0</a>. S. Herreid, F. Pellicciotti, Nature Geoscience 13 (2020) 621–627. Herreid S, Pellicciotti F. The state of rock debris covering Earth’s glaciers. <i>Nature Geoscience</i>. 2020;13(9):621-627. doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-020-0615-0">10.1038/s41561-020-0615-0</a> S. Herreid and F. Pellicciotti, “The state of rock debris covering Earth’s glaciers,” <i>Nature Geoscience</i>, vol. 13, no. 9. Springer Nature, pp. 621–627, 2020. Herreid, Sam, and Francesca Pellicciotti. “The State of Rock Debris Covering Earth’s Glaciers.” <i>Nature Geoscience</i>. Springer Nature, 2020. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-020-0615-0">https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-020-0615-0</a>. Herreid, S., &#38; Pellicciotti, F. (2020). The state of rock debris covering Earth’s glaciers. <i>Nature Geoscience</i>. Springer Nature. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-020-0615-0">https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-020-0615-0</a> Herreid S, Pellicciotti F. 2020. The state of rock debris covering Earth’s glaciers. Nature Geoscience. 13(9), 621–627. 125932023-02-20T08:12:17Z2023-02-28T12:45:37Z