Most of the world's land-based glacial ice and the planet's only two ice sheets are located in Greenland and Antarctica.

The British Antarctic Survey created a map of what Antarctica would look like if it lost all 27 million cubic kilometers (6.5 million cubic miles) of its ice—enough to fill almost 6,500 Grand Canyons.

How melting ice impacts the whole world

Melting glaciers and ice caps are far from where most people live, but their impact can be felt across the planet. Visit four places—the American West, a Himalayan valley, the northern Atlantic, and Texas—with this immersive interactive to see the various impacts of melting ice around the world.

Climate models have predicted sea level rise almost perfectly since the 1990s

The rise in sea levels is primarily due to melting ice in Greenland and Antarctica, and predicted levels have been confirmed accurate by satellite observations. Ocean currents influence regional variations in sea level rise, which are expected to accelerate.

The world's largest deserts—areas that receive less than 10 inches of annual rainfall—are led by the Antarctic and Arctic regions.

Permafrost—soil, rocks, and sand that are held together by ice and remain frozen for at least two consecutive years—covers about 15% of the Northern Hemisphere's land area.

Ice ages are periods of glaciation that last tens of millions of years

During these periods, Earth grows cold and is covered in massive continental ice sheets. Scientists have outlined at least five major ice ages, which result from the alignment of complex factors, like the flow of ocean currents and the movement and location of tectonic plates.

Switzerland's glaciers have lost ice volume every year since 2001

The trajectory of global warming is projected to cause three-quarters of the country's glaciers to be lost by 2100. Accelerated glacial melting worldwide affects as many as 800 million people who rely on meltwater for agriculture and personal use.

Although the term 'glacial pace' is associated with the slow movement of glaciers, during glacier surging, these massive bodies of ice can move over 60 meters (200 feet) a day.

The Atlantic Ocean is home to the world's largest waterfall—the Denmark Strait cataract—which is more than three times the height of the largest land-based waterfall.

The Southern Ocean features the Antarctic Circumpolar Current—the largest ocean current on Earth—which encircles Antarctica and creates a unique biogeographical zone.

The Antarctic Circumpolar Current is Earth's most powerful ocean current and carries more than 100 times the combined flow of all Earth's rivers.

Surface ocean currents are primarily driven by wind, tides, and Earth's rotation, while deep-ocean currents are driven by differences in temperature and salt concentration.

Glacial ice loss can be determined by listening to escaping bubbles

Glaciers form from the accumulation of layers of snowfall over hundreds to thousands of years, trapping air bubbles that serve as time capsules of atmospheric conditions at the time. When glaciers melt, these bubbles produce a distinctive sound that can be detected by underwater microphones, allowing assessment of melting from a safe distance.

The Great Lakes hold almost 20% of the world's surface freshwater

Formed by retreating glaciers, the Great Lakes system feeds Niagara Falls through the Niagara River. Together, the lakes contain about 23 quadrillion liters (5,400 cubic miles) of water, enough to cover the land portion of the continental US to a depth of 3 meters (9.84 feet).

The Arctic warms more quickly than the rest of the planet because of the loss of surface ice, a lack of vertical air circulation, and the release of thermal energy as water vapor condenses.

In 2025, UK scientists began studying climate data from a 1.5-million-year-old ice core

The Antarctica sample will be melted and analyzed in Cambridge to learn about prehistoric environmental conditions. Researchers hope the ice core reveals how Earth's glacial cycles shifted dramatically around 800,000 years ago.

Earth's easily accessible surface water in rivers and lakes accounts for about 0.01% of all the water on Earth, but 70% of this surface water is used for agriculture.

The robust wine production of Antarctica

Antarctica might not be known for its agriculture, but parts of its unique climate are suitable for growing wine grapes. Most of the wine produced there is icewine, a style of dessert wine commonly found in Canada and Germany. This guide covers Antarctica’s unique soil composition, grape varieties, and how exactly penguins contribute to this unusual wine-growing region. There’s even a recommendation for an Antarctic tasting room for adventurous souls.

Arctic permafrost may store twice as much carbon as the entire atmosphere

Rising greenhouse gas concentrations are expected to continue to increase average global temperatures and threaten to thaw ground that has been frozen for thousands of years. The release of greenhouse gases from remnant organic matter would exacerbate the greenhouse effect, creating a positive feedback loop.

How sea ice decline threatens polar bears

This two-minute video discusses a recent study warning that arctic polar bears are at risk of near-extinction by the end of the century due to the rapid melting of the sea ice they rely on for survival. The study used models based on satellite data...

Earth has shifted between extreme warming and cooling phases for 500 million years

Earth is in an interglacial period of the Quaternary glaciation, resulting in receding glaciers and mild temperatures. However, today's warming trend is occurring much faster than previous warming periods in the climate record.

The Rodinia supercontinent triggered a global ice age when it broke 750 million years ago

Before Pangaea, the Earth’s continental plates had drifted together and broken apart multiple times, with each event altering atmospheric CO2 concentrations and triggering climate change. The continents are estimated to come together again in 50 million to 250 million years.

Scientists can determine Earth's past climate conditions by analyzing air trapped in microscopic bubbles within ice cores—columns of compressed snow layers that build up over hundreds of thousands of years.

Just as landmasses have been divided into distinct nations, the world ocean has been divided into multiple oceans for various geographical, practical, and scientific reasons.

The US tried to buy Greenland in 1867 and after World War II

Denmark first took possession of the large, ice-covered island in the northern Atlantic in the 1700s. The local population is a mix of native Inuit, Norwegians (from the medieval era), and Danes, though the population is only 56,000. The US has seen the defensive and economic potential of the island for over 150 years.

The Arctic is greening from rising temperatures

This one-minute video summarizes a new study that used satellite data to look at plant life across the entire Arctic area for the first time. It found that from 1985 to 2016, 38% of the areas studied—including parts of Alaska, Canada, and...

Besides rising temperatures, glacial melting is being intensified by black carbon—fine particulate matter that absorbs solar radiation and reduces reflectivity.

Scientists define sea level as the elevation to which water would settle on Earth's surface, given the planet's gravitational field and rotation.

Carbon sinks absorb more greenhouse gases than they produce

The largest on Earth are oceans, which capture 25% of all carbon emissions and 90% of excess atmospheric thermal radiation while generating half of the world's oxygen. Wildfires and deforestation have reduced forests' net sink capacity, though fungi are believed to capture and store over a third of global carbon emissions.

Carbon dioxide acts as a 'control knob' for Earth's climate

Although Earth's ice ages were primarily triggered by slow changes in the planet's orbit—known as Milankovitch cycles—these changes do not explain the extreme temperature swings during glacial periods. Carbon dioxide acts as a feedback mechanism, intensifying both cooling during ice ages and warming during their ends by reinforcing the initial changes sparked by orbital shifts.

Search for psychrotolerant and psychrophilic microorganisms found in Antarctica

Developed following a five-week expedition to the southern continent, "Life Under the Ice" allows users to examine a petri-dish-like microscopic world and uncover recordings of organisms that can withstand, or even thrive, in the harsh environment.

Why does it matter that the tundra is melting?

This article explores the tundra's unique environment, where specialized plants and animals thrive despite harsh conditions. One of the most important elements of this ecosystem is permafrost, a layer of permanently frozen soil that many tundra...

Watch an animation of Arctic sea ice grow to its maximum

Each year, Arctic sea ice freezes over millions of square miles amid colder temperatures. This 1-minute animation depicts that process using data from the winter of 2022-23.

Soil is the largest terrestrial carbon sink on the planet, storing almost twice as much carbon as the atmosphere and all living plants and animals combined.

How is climate change reshaping the Great Northern Wilderness?

This article focuses on how climate change is drastically altering Kluane National Park in Canada and nearby areas in Alaska. Glaciers are struggling: One large glacier is melting so fast that it has redirected a river's flow, a phenomenon that...

There may be 74,963 kinds of ice, resulting from water molecules rearranging themselves

The theoretical limit greatly expands the known types of ice, with type Iₕ being the most common on Earth and forming hexagonal crystals. The extreme environments of planets like Uranus and Neptune can create a variety of ice with unique structures and properties, as these conditions can reshape these crystals into new geometries.

Despite being called 'ice giants,' Uranus and Neptune do not contain plentiful frozen water—the term refers to their abundance of elements heavier than hydrogen and helium.

Rising sea levels due to climate change may be slowing Earth's rotation

A 2024 PNAS study found that from 2000 to 2020, the length of a day increased at a rate of 1.33 milliseconds per century, an unprecedented amount in the 3.6 million years of day-length changes reconstructed from an analysis of benthic foraminifera fossils. Researchers suggest the slowing comes from changing ice sheets redistributing planetary mass.

Antarctica has two adjacent ATMs installed by Wells Fargo in 1998 to serve the population of McMurdo Station, a research facility that houses up to 1,000 people and is run by the National Science Foundation as part of the US Antarctic Program.

Without greenhouse gases, Earth's average surface temperature would be below freezing

Atmospheric molecules that absorb and emit infrared radiation from the planet's surface effectively trap additional incident solar energy that would otherwise escape to space. Without the greenhouse effect, the planet's average surface temperature would be approximately -18 degrees Celsius (0 degrees Fahrenheit).

Located on Ross Island in Antarctica, Mount Erebus is the southernmost active volcano on Earth and features a lava lake—one of eight known worldwide as of 2026—that erupts regularly.

The 300-million-year period where Earth looked like a snowball

Life has existed on Earth for at least 3 billion years, but the planet has not always looked like it does today. Rather than the blues and greens of our modern globe, for a 300 million-year period, the Earth was covered in ice and snow, from the poles to the equator. Surprisingly, life was thriving at the time.

Instabilities in the polar jet stream can bring cold Arctic air southward

The polar jet stream marks the boundary between mid-latitude air and the much colder polar air, which are normally contained by the polar vortex—a ring of strong winds that circles the Arctic around 16 to 50 kilometers (10 to 30 miles) above the Earth's surface. Climate change may be responsible for "blocking patterns" that distort the jet stream, allowing polar air to leak into lower latitudes.

What is glacial archaeology?

Melting glaciers continue to reveal archaeological and anthropological evidence previously hidden by solid ice. This article details the newer archaeological field, which was popularized after the 1991 discovery of Ötzi the Iceman. A German couple came across Ötzi as they hiked the Ötzal Alps near the Italy-Austria border. Ötzi was initially believed to be the corpse of an unlucky mountaineer, but further study revealed he had been dead for about 5,300 years.

Earth’s major tectonic plates make up 95% of its surface

Tectonic plates are pieces of Earth’s lithosphere, which consists of the crust and the solid, upper layer of the mantle. Segments of major plates can break and form minor or microplates, whose total number varies based on ongoing geological activity.

Records of Earth's magnetic field on the seafloor validated plate tectonics

Matching glacial, fossil, and rock records, mountain ranges, and continental shapes across oceans was insufficient evidence for continental drift. Precise measurements of magnetic minerals on the ocean floor revealed seafloor spreading, which could only be explained by moving landmasses.

'Watermelon snow'—patches of pink, orange, and red in snow—is the result of extremophilic green algae that thrive in extremely frigid conditions and take the shape of red spheres in winter.

Excluding water vapor, greenhouse gases make up less than 1% of Earth's atmosphere

Although carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, ozone, and most fluorinated gases account for only a minority of the planet's greenhouse effect due to their lower concentrations, they are more effective at trapping thermal radiation. While water vapor condenses within two weeks, other greenhouse gases linger in the atmosphere for years on average.

The theory of plate tectonics first emerged from the theory of continental drift

German meteorologist Alfred Wegener proposed that the continents were all one giant landmass in the past, which he named Pangaea. Despite geological and climate evidence suggesting continental movement, his theory was dismissed until the 1960s.

Simulations suggest ice's slipperiness comes from rearranging molecules

Past models have proposed that slipperiness arises from a thin layer of liquid water formed at the ice's surface by frictional melting. However, new research suggests that electromagnetic forces between interacting surfaces push water molecules out of an ordered, crystalline structure and into a shapeless, soft, slippery layer. This process occurs solely through contact, independent of pressure or friction.