Confirmed: 2023 set to be the warmest year on record

The WMO provisional State of the Global Climate report confirms that 2023 is set to be the warmest year on record, regardless of the final two months of... READ MORE

Colossal Antarctic iceberg, five times larger than New York City, breaks free and drifts away from region

On November 24th, scientists from the Bristish Antarctic Survey (BAS) were astonished to observe an iceberg measuring around 4,000 square kilometers (more than twice the size of Greater London) drifting away from the... READ MORE

World surpasses critical warming threshold for the first time

On November 17th, global temperatures reached 2.07°C above pre-industrial levels for the first time on record.... READ MORE

Unexpected disintegration of ice shelves in North Greenland

Alarm bells ringing as rapid disintegration and weakening of ice shelves in North Greenland is observed!... READ MORE

Three Icebergs break off West Antarctica’s most Endangered Glacier

Images recently posted in the Arctic Sea Ice Forum reveal three significant breakups, or calving events, in mid-October on Pine Island Glacier’s floating ice shelf in West... READ MORE

COUNTDOWN

CO2 Budget Depletion

Sea Level Rise

Global “hotspots” where there is projected to be a significant increase in episodic flooding by the end of the century. This map depicts regions facing potential socio-economic and environmental consequences resulting from sea level rise (Source). It shows where sea level rise could potentially have significant socio-economic and environmental impacts – like risks to assets, livelihoods, and infrastructure. Bangladesh is one example of a country highly vulnerable to the effects of sea level rise – read more about this here.

Find out more about how the Arctic affects Global Risks.

Coloured dots show the magnitude of the projected extreme sea level (ESL) at the coast, which is calculated from a variety of parameters affecting sea level rise, and the blue shading represents the approximate extent of flood-prone areas around each continent. See more on this study from nature.com HERE.

These maps show where sea level rise could potentially have significant socio-economic and environmental impacts (eg asset damage, risks to livelihood, etc.).

The Arctic region is warming at least 3 times faster than the global average. This striking and well documented change is driving such global effects as sea level rise from the mass loss of the Greenland ice sheet, and additional warming due to permafrost carbon emissions.

Nearly 600 million people live in coastal zones worldwide. If sea levels rise, they will be increasingly vulnerable to dislocation from these areas which generate approximately US$1 trillion of global wealth (Kirezci et al. 2020).

The Greenland ice sheet is the second largest on Earth (after Antarctica) and holds the equivalent of 7.4m of potential sea level rise (BedMachine v3.- Morlighem et al., 2017). This means its stability – or lack of it – has critical consequences for global sea levels and coastal communities.

The Greenland ice sheet is rapidly losing mass, which contributes directly to rising sea levels. After a period of relative stability in the 1990s, the ice sheet began losing mass at an increasing rate (Mouginot et al., 2019). Record-breaking losses – the biggest since monitoring began in the 1950s – occurred in 2012 and 2019 (IMBIE et al., 2020) contributing up to 1.5 mm per year to rising sea levels. Check the latest data on Greenland here.

ARCTIC RISK INDICATORS

The following gauges show up-to-date data regarding key indicators in the Arctic. These indicators clearly point to the crisis at hand.

Greenland rate of ice loss
13 million l/s
on average
13 million tonnes/s
on average
Arctic Sea Ice Extent
1,411,250 km²
below 1981-2010 average on 01-Dec-2023
544,883 mi²
below 1981-2010 average on 01-Dec-2023
Arctic Amplification
4 times
faster than global average
Arctic 66N+ Wildfire emissions
25,092.70 megatonnes CO₂e
CO₂e emissions in 2023 so far
Arctic Air Quality (PM2.5)
1.24 microgram per cubic meter
on 02-Dec-2023
Global mean Sea Level
3.4mm/year
since 1993