Abstract: As an indicator of climate change, glacier mass balance is used to evaluate the contribution of glaciers to runoff and sea-level rise. The monitoring of glacier mass balance has been going on for more than 70 years. On the basis of the data of mass balance, equilibrium- line altitude, and accumulation area ratio published by the world glacier monitoring service (World Glacier Monitoring Service, WGMS), we choose 23 glaciers with long- term observation in the Arctic as the research objects to analyze the mass balance of glaciers and the relationship between mass balance and equilibrium-line altitude and accumulation area ratio. We found that the average thickness of Arctic glaciers decreased by 14.8 m during 1960-2017, with the smallest decrease in Russia, 4.3 m, and the largest in Alaska, 27.7 m; of the 23 glaciers, only the average mass balance of the Engabreen glacier was positive, the Kongsvegen glacier maintained a weak negative balance, and the mass balances of the other 21 glaciers were in a strong negative balance, indicating that the Arctic glaciers were in a strong negative balance. In the past 60 years, the mass balance of glaciers in the Arctic has shown a negative trend. From the late 1990s, glaciers began to melt faster, with a loss rate rising from -128.2 to -594 mm·a^-1. The mass balance negatively correlates with equilibrium-line altitude, with a positive correlation with the specific rate of accumulation area ratio. The increase in Arctic temperature is the main reason for the melting of glacial mass balance. The large increase of temperature in the 1990s resulted in the massive loss of glacial mass in the same period, and precipitation has little effect on the mass balance.

Key words: glacier change, mass balance, equilibrium-line altitude, Alpine Glacier, Arctic