Earth's ice is vanishing faster today than in the mid-1990s: Study

A new study has said that the Earth's ice is melting faster than in the mid-1990s as climate change continues to push the temperature higher. 

Since the mid-1990s, an estimated 28 trillion metric tons of ice have melted away from the glaciers, sea ice, and ice sheets. 

Watch | 

The report published in the journal the Cryosphere said that annually, the melt rate is 57 per cent faster than it was 30 years ago. 

Also read | Mars' glaciers give insights on the planet's many ice ages

"It was a surprise to see such a large increase in just 30 years," said co-author Thomas Slater, a glaciologist at Leeds University in the UK was quoted as saying by news agency Reuters. 
 
The land ice melted in Antarctica, Greenland, and mountain glaciers added so much water in the 30 year-period that the overall global sea level rose by 3.5 centimetres. 

The melting of mountain glaciers contributed to 22 per cent of the yearly ice loss, which is substantial since only about 1 per cent of all ice atop land, Slater said. 

In the Arctic too, the loss of sea ice is noteworthy as in the last year, it witnessed the second-lowest sea ice extent in over 40 years of satellite monitoring. 

The loss of sea ice also brings into play dark water which absorbs solar radiation, thereby causing a rise in regional temperatures.