Credit: Kathryn Hansen, NASA Flickr

The Arctic is experiencing a profound shift into a new state as it loses ice and breaks high temperature records, a clear sign that some of the worst effects of climate change are already happening.

And as the region warms and ice melts, a new survey shows that sea levels may rise an additional foot on top of previous efforts if nothing is done to curb the amount of carbon dioxide put into the atmosphere.

The changes to the Arctic now being measured by scientists are so significant they will have implications across the globe, according to a report from the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme. That could include worsening monsoons in Asia, extreme temperature records and the inundation of coastal cities.

Scientists have tracked a shocking series of changes to the region already, including alarming findings stumbled upon by accident. They’ve seen green ice, which warming oceans caused by thinning ice to such an extent that microorganisms could thrive at an unprecedented rate underneath. They recently found that river ice now disappears […]