The prediction that glaciers will be gone from Glacier National Park has been moved up by 10 years to 2020, the same year it's predicted the Arctic Sea will be ice-free in the summer.
In the Andes and the Alps, I have seen melting glaciers. At both of the Earth's Poles, I have seen open sea where ice once dominated the horizon.
It's like boxing a glacier. Enjoy that metaphor, by the way, because your grandchildren will have no idea what a glacier is.
Certainly, packets of sea ice, in say the Arctic, which have failed to fully reform in the last couple of years.
Ice shelves in general have episodic carvings and there can be large icebergs breaking off - I'm talking 100km or 200km long - every 10 or 20 or 50 years.
Some studies suggest that the Arctic Ocean may be ice-free by the end of the century.
It now appears that the fracturing of that ice is happening much more quickly than people previously thought, apparently at a slow melt.
Within 10 years it will be impossible to travel to the North Pole by dog team. There will be too much open water.
