The ice is melting faster and faster, with major consequences for the inhabitants of the coast at the end of this century

Between 1994 and 2017, 28 trillion (28,000,000,000,000) tons of “ shocking ” ice went missing, researchers said. During the same period, the sea level rose by 3.46 centimeters.

Specific

“To make this concrete”, writes ESA (European Space Agency) on his website, “One trillion tonnes of ice is equivalent to a 10 x 10 x 10 kilometer block of ice, which is larger than Mount Everest.”

Principal researcher Thomas Slater says on ESA’s website that this is the “worst case scenario of global warming”. “Such a rise in sea level will have very serious consequences for people living on the coast during this century.”

Satellite images and calculations

The researchers draw their conclusions after examining satellite images in combination with calculations. They published their results in The Cryosphere magazine.

Since the early 1990s, the rate at which ice melts has increased by 57%, the researchers calculated. The increase of 0.8 to 1.2 trillion tonnes per year is due to the accelerated melting of glaciers and ice caps, mainly in Antarctica and Greenland. Most of the world’s ice loss is likely due to global warming.