Transcript:
There are few places on Earth, like Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago about 800 miles north of the Arctic Circle.
Glaciers covering most of the Svalbard Islands are shrinking rapidly.
Bamber: “We are all over the archipelago of these islands and we are seeing accelerated melting as warming increases in the region.”
In a recent study, Jonathan Bamber and his team at the University of Bristol in the UK used artificial intelligence to analyze satellite images of millions of Svalbard glaciers that extend into the ocean.
They found that almost all of these glaciers have shrunk over about 40 years. They lose an average of about 6,000 acres of land each year, an area with more than 4,000 football fields.
So they retreated at an alarming speed.
“Especially over the past two decades, most glaciers have increased rates.”
It's a worrying preview of how climate change will affect other huge glaciers as temperatures continue to rise.
When glaciers melt into the ocean, the global ocean rises – so what happens in remote glaciers will affect coastal communities around the world.
Report Credit: Sarah Kennedy/Chavobart Digital Media
Repost our articles for free under the Creative Commons license, online or in print.
