Retreat of glaciers since 1850 in the context of "Mountain glacier"

Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to Earth's climate. The modern-day rise in global temperatures is driven by human activities, especially fossil fuel (coal, oil and natural gas) burning since the Industrial Revolution. Fossil fuel use, deforestation, and some agricultural and industrial practices release greenhouse gases. These gases absorb some of the heat that the Earth radiates after it warms from sunlight, warming the lower atmosphere. Carbon dioxide, the primary gas driving global warming, has increased in concentration by about 50% since the pre-industrial era to levels not seen for millions of years.

Climate change has an increasingly large impact on the environment. Deserts are expanding, while heat waves and wildfires are becoming more common. Amplified warming in the Arctic has contributed to thawing permafrost, retreat of glaciers and sea ice decline. Higher temperatures are also causing more intense storms, droughts, and other weather extremes. Rapid environmental change in mountains, coral reefs, and the Arctic is forcing many species to relocate or become extinct. Even if efforts to minimize future warming are successful, some effects will continue for centuries. These include ocean heating, ocean acidification and sea level rise.

The cryosphere is an umbrella term for those portions of Earth's surface where water is in solid form. This includes sea ice, ice on lakes or rivers, snow, glaciers, ice caps, ice sheets, and frozen ground (which includes permafrost). Thus, there is an overlap with the hydrosphere. The cryosphere is an integral part of the global climate system. It also has important feedbacks on the climate system. These feedbacks come from the cryosphere's influence on surface energy and moisture fluxes, clouds, the water cycle, atmospheric and oceanic circulation.

Through these feedback processes, the cryosphere plays a significant role in the global climate and in climate model response to global changes. Approximately 10% of the Earth's surface is covered by ice, but this is rapidly decreasing. Current reductions in the cryosphere (caused by climate change) are measurable in ice sheet melt, glaciers decline, sea ice decline, permafrost thaw and snow cover decrease.

Finnish Lakeland or the Finnish lake district (Finnish: Järvi-Suomi [ˈjærʋiˌsuo̯mi], "Lake Finland", Swedish: Insjöfinland) is a large landscape region in central eastern Finland.

The hilly, forest-covered landscape of Lakeland Finland's lake plateau is dominated by drumlins and by long sinuous eskers. Both are glacial remnants deposited after the continental glaciers that scoured and gouged the country's surface receded about 10,000 years ago.

A glacier (US: /ˈɡleɪʃər/ GLAY-shər) or (UK: /ˈɡlæsiə/) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight; it forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation (melting and sublimation) over many years, often centuries. Glaciers slowly deform and flow due to stresses induced by their weight, creating crevasses, seracs, and other distinguishing features. Because glacial mass is affected by long-term climate changes, e.g., precipitation, mean temperature, and cloud cover, glacial mass changes are considered among the most sensitive indicators of climate change. There are about 198,000 to 200,000 glaciers in the world.

Thwaites Glacier is an unusually broad and vast Antarctic glacier located east of Mount Murphy, on the Walgreen Coast of Marie Byrd Land. It was initially sighted by polar researchers in 1940, mapped in 1959–1966 and officially named in 1967, after the late American glaciologist Fredrik T. Thwaites. The glacier flows into Pine Island Bay, part of the Amundsen Sea, at surface speeds which exceed 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) per year near its grounding line. Its fastest-flowing grounded ice is centered between 50 and 100 kilometres (31 and 62 mi) east of Mount Murphy. Like many other parts of the cryosphere, it has been adversely affected by climate change, and provides one of the more notable examples of the retreat of glaciers since 1850.

Thwaites Glacier is closely monitored for its potential to elevate sea levels. Since the 1980s, Thwaites and Pine Island Glacier have been described as part of the "weak underbelly" of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, in part because they seem vulnerable to irreversible retreat and collapse even under relatively little warming, but mainly because if they go, the entire ice sheet is likely to eventually follow. This hypothesis is based on both theoretical studies of the stability of marine ice sheets and observations of large changes on these two glaciers. In recent years, the flow of both of these glaciers has accelerated, their surfaces have lowered, and their grounding lines have retreated. They are believed very likely to eventually collapse even without any further warming. The outsized danger Thwaites poses has led to some reporters nicknaming it the Doomsday Glacier, although this nickname is controversial among scientists.

There are numerous effects of climate change on agriculture, many of which are making it harder for agricultural activities to provide global food security. Recent research has found that climate change is likely to exacerbate the existing environmental impacts of agriculture by lowering crop productivity, reducing the effectiveness of agrochemicals, increasing soil erosion and pest pressures, and thereby driving greater use of land, water and inputs.Rising temperatures and changing weather patterns often result in lower crop yields due to water scarcity caused by drought, heat waves and flooding. These effects of climate change can also increase the risk of several regions suffering simultaneous crop failures. Currently this risk is rare but if these simultaneous crop failures occur, they could have significant consequences for the global food supply. With a growing population and rapid urbanization, it is suggested that food production may increase by nearly 60% in the upcoming years. Verma, Krishnan (13 August 2024). "Climate change adaptation: Challenges for agricultural sustainability". Wiley. Wiley. Retrieved 30 October 2025.. Many pests and plant diseases are expected to become more prevalent or to spread to new regions. The world's livestock are expected to be affected by many of the same issues. These issues range from greater heat stress to animal feed shortfalls and the spread of parasites and vector-borne diseases.

The increased atmospheric CO₂ level from human activities (mainly burning of fossil fuels) causes a CO₂ fertilization effect. This effect offsets a small portion of the detrimental effects of climate change on agriculture. However, it comes at the expense of lower levels of essential micronutrients in the crops. Furthermore, CO₂ fertilization has little effect on C4 crops like maize. On the coasts, some agricultural land is expected to be lost to sea level rise, while melting glaciers could result in less irrigation water being available. On the other hand, more arable land may become available as frozen land thaws. Other effects include erosion and changes in soil fertility and the length of growing seasons. Bacteria like Salmonella and fungi that produce mycotoxins grow faster as the climate warms. Their growth has negative effects on food safety, food loss and prices.