Polar Ice Sheets

VIDEO COMING SOON

There are two continental-scale ice sheets on Earth, Greenland and Antarctica, covering an area the size of the US and Mexico combined. Since 1978, North Greenland’s ice shelves have undergone a rapid disintegration and weakening, losing more than 35% of their total volume. Antarctica’s ice is now undergoing a similar process. Its most threatened glacier, the Thwaites, has been dubbed the “Doomsday Glacier” for its potential to unleash a domino effect of collapse across the West Antarctic ice sheet in the 21st and 22nd centuries reshaping the coastline of the planet. But rising seas are not the only threat. Freshwater melt from Polar ice sheets could upend ocean currents that regulate the climate resulting in a chaotic disruption of global weather, increasing the severity of storms and frequency of droughts and impacting the reliability of global agricultural output. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is the only way to limit the cascading consequences of melting polar ice. 

- ICCI, Columbia Climate School, ITGC, Carbon Brief

WHAT YOU CAN DO

• Reduce your carbon footprint — cutting emissions is the most direct way to slow the melting of polar ice sheets.

• Support research monitoring Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier and the stability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.

• Support climate adaptation for coastal communities facing sea-level rise.

MORE INFORMATION AND HOW TO HELP

• World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS)

• National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIC)

• NASA Earth Observatory - Glaciers & Ice Program