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Global Ice Melt Matches Worst-Case Climate Scenario, Study Says

The first global ice-loss survey using satellite data showed ice is disappearing faster in Antarctica and Greenland

Drift ice in the Arctic Ocean.

Photographer: Arterra/Universal Images Group Editorial/Getty images

Melting on the ice sheets has accelerated so much over the past three decades that it’s now in line with the worst-case climate warming scenarios outlined by scientists. 

A total of 28 trillion metric tons of ice was lost between 1994 and 2017, according to a research paper published in The Cryosphere on Monday. The research team led by the University of Leeds in the U.K. was the first to carry out a global survey of global ice loss using satellite data.