1. The global threat of Polar ice melting

2. What’s the worry?
Due to GLOBAL WARMING massive amounts of Arctic and Antarctic ice are beginning to melt.
World temperatures may rise by a couple of degrees this century because of greenhouse gas emissions
This photograph shows melted glacier ice that has collected in a valley
© Trevor Cole

3. Is Antarctic ice melting?
Scientists think so. And in places, the ice is 5 km deep!
If all the ice stored on Antarctica melted, world sea level would rise by 60 metres! However this would take centuries to occur.

4. To compare, look at the size of the UK
To compare, look at the size of the UK. There’s a lot of ice stored on Antarctica!

5. What’s happening at the North Pole?
Unlike southern Antarctica, the northern Arctic region is mostly an ocean covered with frozen ice.
If this ice melts, it will not cause sea levels to rise (when ice cubes melt in a drink, the level stays the same)

6. However, the big Arctic island of Greenland is covered with land ice.
If all of Greenland’s land ice melted, world sea levels would rise by an additional
7 metres !

7. Key milestones for a possible future sea-level rise timeline
What happens next?
Key milestones for a possible future sea-level rise timeline
World sea-level is expected to rise 60-70cm by 2100; but this is mostly due to thermal expansion (as the sea gets warmer, it expands!)
Significant glacier melting in Artic, Antarctic, Himalayan and Alpine regions could produce another metre of sea-level rise by around 2200.
If greenhouse gas emissions keep rising, then Greenland and Antarctica ice sheets could one day melt completely, bringing 7m and 60m rises respectively. However, this might take hundreds of years.