The impact of climate variability on the cryosphere – need to be better understood and mitigated.
Global warming’s devastating effects on the world’s sea ice, icebergs and glaciers – part of what is known as the cryosphere – need to be better understood and mitigated, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The WMO warned on Tuesday that glaciers and ice sheet melt in Greenland and Antarctica accounts for some 50% of sea level rise, which is accelerating, with disastrous impacts on small island developing states (SIDS) and densely populated coastal areas. Glacier melt The average thickness of the world’s glaciers has plummeted by almost 30 metres since 1970. “The cryosphere issue is a hot topic not just for the Arctic and Antarctic, but it is a global issue,” said WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas. The irreversible changes in the global cryosphere will affect well over a billion people who rely on water from snow and glacier melt, WMO said. ‘Sleeping giant’ of carbon emissions The agency also called melting Arctic permafrost a “sleeping giant” of gree...
