Images of Melt: Earth's Vanishing Ice

British Antarctic Survey

British Antarctic Survey field camp

(Image credit: Hamish Pritchard, BAS)

A British Antarctic Survey field camp on Alexander Island, Antarctica.

Sun on Adelaide Island

Sun on the peaks of Adelaide Island

(Image credit: Hamish Pritchard, BAS)

The late summer sun paints the peaks of Adelaide Island, Antarctica.

Surveying Antarctica

British Antarctic Survey sampling

(Image credit: Mike Brian)

Hamish Pritchard of the British Antarctic Survey collects samples from Herschel Heights, Alexander Island, Antarctica.

Ilulissat Fjord

Ilulissat iceberg in Greenland Fjord.

(Image credit: Ian Joughin)

An iceberg in the Ilulissat Fjord which likely calved from the Jakobshavn Isbrae, Greenland's fastest-moving glacier. Legend has it that this glacier produced the iceberg that sunk the Titanic.

Ilulissat Iceberg

Ilulissat Greenland with iceberg

(Image credit: Ian Joughin)

A large iceberg in the foreground with Ilulissat, Greenland in the background.

Ilulissat Iceberg and Sea Ice

Iceberg in Ilulissat

(Image credit: Ian Joughin)

An iceberg in the Ilulissat Fjord which likely calved from the Jakobshavn Isbrae, west Greenland's fastest-moving glacier.

Icy Sea

Ilulissat Greenland with iceberg

(Image credit: Ian Joughin)

A view of Ilulissat.

Ice Island

Ilulissat Greenland with iceberg

(Image credit: Ian Joughin)

Massive icebergs float in and around Ilulissat Fjord, Greenland.

Greenland's Icebergs

Greenland iceberg in Ilulissat fjord.

(Image credit: Ian Joughin)

Icebergs have always calved off of glaciers where they hit the sea, but the rate of calving is accelerating with climate change.

Illuisat Iceberg

Ilulissat Greenland with iceberg

(Image credit: Ian Joughin)

Greenland's rate of ice loss has accelerated to five times what it was in the early 1990s, recent research shows.

Stephanie Pappas
Live Science Contributor

Stephanie Pappas is a contributing writer for Live Science, covering topics ranging from geoscience to archaeology to the human brain and behavior. She was previously a senior writer for Live Science but is now a freelancer based in Denver, Colorado, and regularly contributes to Scientific American and The Monitor, the monthly magazine of the American Psychological Association. Stephanie received a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of South Carolina and a graduate certificate in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz.