New Delhi | Jagran Trending Desk: In a shocking manifestation of the depth of the climate crisis, a group of British researchers have found that a staggering 28 trillion tonnes of ice melted from the Earth’s surface between 1994 and 2017.

Scientists from Leeds and Edinburgh universities and University College London analyzed satellite surveys of glaciers, mountains, and ice sheets between the said period to measure the impact of global warning. The review paper, which was published in the online journal Cryosphere Discussions, has suggested that a large majority of the  Earth’s ice loss is a direct consequence of climate warming

“To put that in context, every centimetre of sea level rise means about a million people will be displaced from their low-lying homelands,” Guardian quoted Professor Andy Shepherd, director of Leeds University’s Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling, as saying.

The researches have warned that their analysis indicates melting glaciers and ice sheets could cause sea levels to rise possibly by a metre by the end of the century. The drastic melting of ice is now reducing the planet’s ability to reflect solar radiation back into space.

28 trillion tonnes of ice can cover the entire surface of United Kingdom with a sheet of frozen water that is 100 metres thick, Tom Slater from Leeds University pointed out.

The findings have come days after a study published in the journal Communications Earth and Environment stated that ice sheet shrank by a record of 532 billion tons of ice in 2019, with 223 billion tons of ice lost during the month of July alone.

Greenland is the world’s largest non-continental island and its ice sheets cover nearly 81 per cent of its surface. If all of the island’s ice melts away, the water released would push sea levels up by an average of six meters.

Posted By: Lakshay Raja