The world’s polar ice caps are shrinking little by little.
The Arctic is heating up twice as fast as the rest of the planet…with Greenland’s glaciers receding particularly quickly.
This process is speeding up all by itself. Melting snow exposes ice underneath, which then absorbs the sun’s rays and increases thawing.
At the opposite end of the earth, 90% of the ice shelves on the Antarctic Peninsula are starting to disintegrate.
Ice melt is also being observed in mountain ranges, like the Himalayas, Kilimanjaro, the Alps and Pyrenees. In the Andes, glaciers are retreating and risk disappearing altogether.
Ocean levels are rising, due to the combination of melting ice and warmer sea temperatures – as warm water has a greater volume than cold water.
At the current rate, it’s predicted that by 2100, sea levels will rise between 26 centimetres and a metre.
Islands in the Pacific or Indian Oceans, like the Maldives, will be submerged.
Densely populated, low lying coastal areas like Bangladesh, Vietnam, the Netherlands and the east coast of the United States are all under threat.
STÉPHANE KOGUC, KATHERINE LEVY SPENCER / AFP VIDEOGRAPHICS / AFP