 Most of the Icelandic glaciers retreated rapidly during the warm decades from 1930 to 1960 , slowing down as the climate cooled during the following decade , and started to advance after 1970 . The rate of advance peaked in the 1980s , after which it slowed down until about 1990 . As a consequence of rapid warming of the climate that has taken place since the mid @-@ 1980s , most glaciers in Iceland began to retreat after 1990 , and by 2000 all monitored non @-@ surge type glaciers in Iceland were retreating . An average of 45 non @-@ surging termini were monitored each year by the Icelandic <unk> Society from 2000 – 2005 . 
