glaciologist

"The strength of this study is that they use multiple lines of evidence to show that our climate is in a similar state to when several metres of ice was melted in the past," said Prof Andy Shepherd, a glaciologist at Northumbria University, who was not involved in the new publication.

"Our key message is that limiting warming to 1.5C would be a major achievement - it should absolutely be our target - but in no sense will it slow or stop sea-level rise and melting ice sheets," said lead author Prof Chris Stokes, a glaciologist at Durham University.

University of Exeter glaciologist Martin Siegert, who was also not involved in the study, told Salon that the study confirms what experts like himself have long predicted — namely, that Antarctica will see an increase in plants on exposed surfaces as it loses ice due to climate change.

A message in a bottle, buried 54 years ago under a rock cairn in a remote Arctic valley on Canada’s northernmost island, could well be the last written words from a promising young glaciologist and explorer from Pasadena.

The camera roll on his phone is brimming with videos and photos of his trips to Antarctica, where the glaciologist and climate scientist has spent days and weeks at a time collecting ice core samples.