But many of the tiny islands are expected to disappear by 2050. Ice experts say the greatest immediate danger doesn't even come from polar ice. Glaciers around the world are melting at ever-faster rates. Researchers expect that within a couple of years the glacier might either begin breaking off icebergs at a rapid pace, or it could melt so quickly that it stops reaching the sea. Water and earth, being darker than ice, absorb more sunlight and warm the whole planet.
Ice shelves are the enormous floating tongues of even larger land-dwelling glaciers.
They grow and shrink, advance and retreat over decades. And now and then, large icebergs fall from their edges and crash into the sea. When air temperatures rise, more of the ice melts, setting up a catastrophic chain reaction. Melted surface ice can form deep pools of water. The water forces its way into cracks in the ice shelf.