Sea Level Rise, Perma-Frost Thaw and Wildfire impact Videos and Articles

May 27, 2025  #ClimateChange #SeaLevelRise

Ice loss from the polar ice sheets will lock us in to multi-metres of sea level rise over the (very) long term. Even today's warming of 1.3 C will result in coastline-altering sea level rise. But how fast seas rise is critically important when it comes to adaptation - and by now it's pretty much the only thing we can control.

Dec 1, 2024

Antarctica is collapsing! BUT it's a game of two halves. East Antarctica is pretty solid but the West Antarctic ice sheet is perched precariously on islands and held back by huge glaciers the size of small countries. Those glaciers are rapidly giving way, and when they go, we've got a problem! Some scientists reckon we should radically intervene. But are they right?

Oct 27, 2024

AMOC, or The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, has collapsed many times in Earth's geological history. But it's never happened while modern civilisations have existed - at least not until now anyway. We're already struggling to cope with 0.2 degrees Celsius of warming each decade, but an AMOC collapse could bring such catastrophic seasonal disruption that it would make recent extreme weather events look like a walk in the park! So, what's the plan?? Will this include more rapid sea level rise in the next 20 years? Will earth's societies be capable of adapting to these impacts? Let's do what we are able to do now! No time to waste!

Jun 28, 2024

Rapid warming in the Arctic - three to four times faster than the global average - is accelerating the release of Arctic greenhouse gas emissions. Total methane and carbon emissions from thawing permafrost and other sources remain uncertain and largely unaccounted for in global carbon budgets, rendering countries’ emissions targets inaccurate. Despite these uncertainties, even moderate projections for Arctic emissions could undermine the world’s ability to cap warming at 2 degrees Celsius, emphasizing the urgent need for action. 

This session provides insights into the work being done by Harvard and its partners to shrink these knowledge gaps, and the policy actions that the United States and other countries could take to incorporate Arctic carbon emissions into their climate policy.           Speakers:       Henry Lee, Jassim M. Jaidah Family Director of the Environment and Natural Resources Program, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School;     Steven Hamburg,  Chief Scientist Environmental Defense Fund ;    John Holdren,  Research Professor  Harvard Kennedy School ,    Sue Natali,  Senior Scientist,  Woodwell Climate Research Center

July 11,  2024   While many of the effects of climate change, including heat waves, droughts and wildfires, are already with us, some of the most alarming consequences are hiding beneath the surface of the ocean.  David Gelles and Raymond Zhong, who both cover climate for The New York Times, explain just how close we might be to a tipping point.

  •  David Gelles (https://www.nytimes.com/by/david-gelles) , who reports for the New York Times Climate team and leads The Times’s Climate Forward newsletter (https://www.nytimes.com/column/climat...) .

  •  Raymond Zhong (https://www.nytimes.com/by/raymond-zhong) , a reporter focusing on climate and environmental issues for The New York Times.

   •  Scientists are freaking out (https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/27/cl...)  about ocean temperatures.

  •  Have we crossed a dangerous warming threshold? Here’s what to know (https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/08/cl...) . 

Jul 5, 2024       The West Antarctic is currently chucking a load of ice into the ocean, adding rapidly to sea levels.  And now, three new scientific studies have shown that the ice sheets may be more sensitive to warming than previously thought. These new findings could revise our sea level rise estimates upwards.   I spoke to Dr Alex Bradley, who was involved in two of these new studies, about what this means, and why it doesn’t mean we should give up on climate action.  Speaking of which...

What can I do?*   Here are some ideas:  https://www.theguardian.com/environme...     https://www.imperial.ac.uk/stories/cl... 

https://climate.leeds.ac.uk/here-are-...        https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20...        https://www.ucl.ac.uk/climate-action-... 

12-8-23  A presentation video streamed from the "Cryosphere Pavilion" at COP 28 in the UAE.  The East Antarctic Ice Sheet stores 52 meters of sea level equivalent, over four times greater than both Greenland and West Antarctica combined. Although often viewed as less vulnerable to global warming, East Antarctica could increase global sea level rise by several meters over the next few centuries if emissions remain on their current trajectory. Even small changes to the East Antarctica will have catastrophic impacts on low-lying and coastal regions across the globe. Every fraction of a degree matters.

Contacts: University of Tasmania (UTAS), Monash University, Durham University 

5-1-23  Interview with IGSD President Durwood Zaelke 

9-6-2022   A “tipping point” is when a system, with just a small amount of additional energy, is pushed from one stable state to another suddenly and dramatically. This can be a chair falling backwards. Or it can be a major earth system collapsing. 

The IPCC recently identified 15 potential climate-related tipping points that scientists have grown increasingly worried we are getting close to crossing due to global warming. In this episode of Weathered, we look at 6 of the major candidates, how they are all interconnected and influence each other, and what it would mean if they were triggered. These tipping points or tipping elements are the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, the Amazon rainforest, global monsoons, the AMOC (Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation) and the earth’s permafrost and coral reefs.

The consequences for any of these systems being pushed over the edge would be truly catastrophic and would encompass everything from massive droughts, loss of biodiversity, increased flooding, heat waves, large scale climate migration, food shortages, and much more. 

9-18-22  "Just Have A Think" The arctic region is a key driver of global climate patterns. In the summer of 2022, three peer reviewed research papers were published, all of which showed the systems that have kept the arctic stable for thousands of years are now collapsing far more quickly than previous analysis and modelling had suggested. A fourth paper, published at the same time, shows us what the consequences are likely to be. This video assesses all four. 

9-14-2022 This PBS Newshour segment features Don Bain from Climate Central who raises the alarm about the impact of impending sea level rise all along our southern and eastern coastlines. Much of this sea level rise is already "baked in". Mr. Bain emphasizes the importance of the choices we make now and how they will affect the amounts of land lost to rising seas in the future.