United Nations, April 24 (RHC)-- A new study finds the vast ice sheets covering Greenland and Antarctica are melting three times faster than they were just 30 years ago. Study co-author Ruth Mottram described the findings as “disastrous,” warning coastal communities will face increasing amounts of flooding as sea level rise accelerates due to the melting ice. 

The European Commission’s climate agency reported 2022 was the continent’s second-warmest year on record, and warned this year is on track to set more record temperatures across Europe and around the world. 

Samantha Burgess of the Copernicus Climate Change Service said: “We saw prolonged and extensive heat waves and also prolonged and extensive drought over much of the continent.  We had the highest emissions of carbon from wildfires in a number of countries, and those wildfires were bigger than average, they started earlier than average, and the season persisted longer than average.  We also saw record ice melt from glaciers in the European Alps. So climate change isn’t a future problem; it is a current problem.”