Glaciers melt at alarming rate

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Source: CCTV.com | 10-06-2008 11:07

An Icelandic government report says the country's glaciers will have all but disappeared by the 22nd century.

An iceberg carved from a glacier floats in the Jacobshavn fjord in south-west Greenland in this undated handout photograph released on September 20, 2006. (Konrad Steffen/University of Colorado/Handout/Reuters)

It also says this will cause sea levels to rise significantly.

Europe's largest glacier is located in Iceland, and is melting fast due to rising temperatures and reduced snow fall.

Scientists say the glacier is now melting at a rate of one meter a year, and climate change is likely to quicken the pace even more.

This means sea levels will rise with catastrophic effects all over the globe. And people in vulnerable low-lying areas will have to move to higher ground to evade the rising waters.