A new study has found that the world's glaciers are shrinking five times faster now than they were in the 1960s. The research, which used ground and satellite measurements to examine 19,000 glaciers, discovered that southwestern Asia is the only region where glaciers are not shrinking. The study also found that since 1961, the world has lost 9.6 trillion metric tonnes of ice and snow, enough to cover the lower 48 US states in 1.2 metres of water. The research suggests that glacier melt is responsible for between 25% and 30% of the yearly rise in oceans.