the planet's air conditioner, quietly melting to pay for everyone else's summer.
means the frozen seawater and glacial mass covering the arctic and antarctic that regulates earth's temperature by reflecting sunlight back to space.
from formed over millions of years as polar regions stayed cold enough for snow to compact into ice sheets and seasonal sea ice; the term entered scientific use in the 19th century as explorers and oceanographers began charting the poles seriously.
arctic sea ice minimum — hits lowest extent every september, shrinking since satellite records began 1979
larsen c ice shelf — antarctica, calved a trillion-ton iceberg in 2017
greenland ice sheet — losing roughly 270 billion tons of ice per year
north pole — floating sea ice with no land underneath, unlike the south