Thirty reference glaciers monitored by the Swiss-based World Glacier Monitoring Service lost about 66 centimetres (two feet) in thickness on average in 2005, the UN Environment Programme said in a statement.

"The new data confirms the trend in accelerated loss during the past two and half decades," it added.

The set of glaciers located around the world have thinned by about 10.5 metres (34.6 feet) on average since 1980, according to the data supplied by the Monitoring Service in Zurich.

They melted on average about 1.6 times faster annually this decade compared with the 1990s, and about six times faster than in the 1980s.

The glacier surface area is also much smaller than in the 1980s, said Michael Zemp, a glaciologist at the Monitoring Service.

"The recent increase in the rates of ice loss over reducing glacier surface areas leaves no doubt about the accelerated change in climatic conditions," Zemp added.

UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner said: "The findings confirm the science of human-induced climate change."

Steiner said the data from glaciers provided "confirmation that will be further underlined when the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change unveil their next report on February 2."

The world's top climate experts began a four-day meeting of the UN panel on Monday in Paris, where they are set to launch a long-awaited update about the scientific evidence for global warming later this week.

The melting of the mountain ice floes is expected to show up in 2006 data because it was one of the warmest years in many parts of the world, UNEP said.

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