A WARMER ARCTIC UNDERMINES ITS VAST ICE SHEETS. Air temperatures within the Arctic Circle are rising approximately four times faster than the global average. As a result, melting land ice and snow are draining more and more into the global ocean.
SEE THE DATAMELTING ICE SHEETS MEAN HIGHER SEAS The Greenland Ice Sheet contains the equivalent of 7.4 metres of sea level rise. It is now the largest contributor to global sea level rise at up to 1.4 mm per year and Greenland’s ongoing deglaciation will massively disrupt coastal communities across the world.
SEE THE DATATHE MASSIVE GREENLAND ICE SHEET IS RETREATING. Within the last three decades, Greenland has lost almost five trillion tonnes of ice equivalent to 14 millimetres in sea-level rise. Losses from other ice masses and thermal expansion of the ocean doubles this figure. But this is just the beginning: Greenland ice was in balance with climate in the 1990s and its ice deficit is now accelerating.
SEE THE DATAThe UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is the world’s most authoritative source on climate change. It reviews all published literature to provide comprehensive and objective scientific information.
GREENLAND MELTING UNLOCKS A FROZEN-WATER STOREHOUSE
The vast Greenland Ice Sheet is three times the area of France and acts as a massive reservoir storing the world’s frozen freshwater. Since 2005, it has been in severe deficit, losing on average 243 billion tonnes of ice every year, equivalent to 486,000 fully loaded supertankers dumping that melt directly into the ocean
Global mean sea level rise has increased by 20 cm (±5 cm) between 1901 and 2018 but over half of this has occurred in the last two decades. The world’s oceans have been rising at a mean rate in excess of 4±0.5 mm per year since 2007.
Global mean sea level rise is projected to approach 2 metres by 2100 and 5 metres by 2150 under a very high GHG emissions scenario.
Many impacts due to already committed greenhouse gas emissions have become irreversible for centuries to millennia, especially structural changes in ocean circulation, ice sheets and global sea level.
Charts best viewed in landscape mode, rotate your phone to explore this chart.
Charts best viewed in landscape mode, rotate your phone to explore this chart.
Charts best viewed in landscape mode, rotate your phone to explore this chart.
The following gauges show up-to-date data regarding key indicators in the Arctic. These indicators clearly point to the crisis at hand.