Kerguelen Island is at the edge of the furious fifties in the southern Indian Ocean. The island is host to many glaciers, the largest being the Cook Ice Cap at 400 km². A comparison of aerial images from 1963 and 2001 by Berthier et al (2009) indicated the ice cap lost 21 % of its area in that period. The east side of the Cook Ice Cap outlet glaciers tetreat has led to formation and expansion of a new group of lakes (Pelto, 2016). Here we examine the changes from 2001-2025 along using Landsat and Sentinel imagery. 

Ampere Glacier main terminus retreated 800 meters from 2001-2011. Here the terminus has pulled back from the tip of the peninsula on the west side of the terminus and is currently at a narrow point. The eastern terminus has retreated to its junction with the main Ampere Glacier a distance of 1400 m. From 2011 to 2025 the retreat accelerated totalling 3.3 km by 2025. The glacier had two nunataks L and N in 2001, by 2025 L has emerged as a marginal mountain and N is barely surrounded by ice.

Diosaz Glacier retreated 0.8 km from 2001-2025 leading to a small new lake basin developing.

Naumann Glacier retreat has been 4.0 km from 2001-2025 creating an new alpine lake. With the glacier no longer terminating in the lake retreat should slow.

Vallot Glacier has retreated 2.4 km creating a new alpine lake at its southern terminus. The glacier will have just one terminus in the near future and the two lake basins could merge.

Dumon d”Urville Glacier has retreated 1.5 km with the lake it terminates in developing an expanding southern embayment.

The east side of the Cook Ice Cap on Kerguelen Island outlet glaciers retreatn and expanding group of lakes illustrates widespread ice cap thinning (Pelto, 2016). Verfaillie et al (2016) identified that the accelerating glacier wastage on Kerguelen Island was due to reduced net accumulation and resulting rise in the transient snowline since the 1970s, when a significant warming began.