From polar regions to mountain glaciers, Earth's ice cover is melting at an astonishing rate. Scientist's confirm that man's influences on the global climate is stronger than ever.

  More studies have come to light resulting in heightened concerns that global warming is causing the world's ice cover to melt and a major glacier in Antarctica is shrinking. The massive Antarctic ice cover represents 91 percent of Earth's ice.

  On Jan. 22, an international panel of hundreds of scientists met in China and predicts an average warming of the Earth's climate of 1.4 to 5.8 degrees Celsius over the coming century. Scientists expect this will cause more frequent and intense storms, droughts and floods. Predictions are that up to a quarter of the global mountain glacier mass could disappear by 2050, and up to half by 2100 - leaving large patches only in Alaska, Patagonia, and the Himalayas.

  Lisa Mastny, a researcher at Washington, D.C.'s Worldwatch Institute, states that "from the polar regions to high mountain glaciers, Earth's ice cover is melting at an astonishing rate.'' The disappearance of the Earth's ice cover would significantly alter the global climate since ice reflects large amounts of solar energy back into space resulting in helping to keep our planet cool. "When ice melts, however, this exposes land and water surfaces that retain heat - leading to even more melt and creating a feedback loop that accelerates the overall warming,'' she says.

  Satelite photography collecting data while monitering West Antarctica's Pine Island Glacier between 1992 and 1999 found that this inland glacier of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet lost about 31 cubic kilometres of ice during this time. It is decreasing by approximately four gigatons per year, which is equivalent to approximately 0.01 millimetres of sea level rise.

  The West Antarctic Ice Sheet contains enough water that if it melted totally it would raise global sea level by approximately five metres.

  However, Andrew Shepherd, a scientist involved in this study, states there is no suggestion that the findings are a sign of global warming. ''The cause of the thinning/retreat still remains a mystery." "But," he continues, "new data adds weight to the argument that changes at the ice sheet coastline, such as those that may occur due to global warming, can affect the interior of the ice sheet, where the majority of ice is stored''.

  Higher global air temperatures would generate higher icecap flow rates and more ice-bergs which would raise sea-level by 3 feet in the next century. While such a rise does not seem a significant one, its effects could be devastating -- displacing more than 100 million people in low-lying coastal areas around the world. Accompanying this rise in sea level would be increased winter temperatures and warmer hot spells, increased rainfall and flooding, and overall unpredictable shifting of temperature and rainfall patterns that could wreak havoc with agriculture, natural ecosystems and other daunting effects.