Shocking video shows what Earth would look like if all the ice melted

People have been left divided over shocking footage which has revealed what will happen if all the ice on Earth melts.

Watching David Attenborough's Frozen Planet on a Sunday evening is the perfect way to get yourself into a sombre and depressed state, perfectly prepared for work on a Monday morning.

However, if you needed a top up dose of grim reality to really open your eyes as to the extent of the climate crisis and the potential dire future of our planet, then this video has you sorted.

Four months ago researchers from the University of Maine and the British Antarctic Survey revealed Antarctica's Doomsday Glacier - which is around the size of Great Britain - is melting at the quickest rate it has ever done over the last 5,500 years. 

Prepare to need to watch a comedy immediately after this to perk your mood back up:

The study revealed if the glacier keeps melting at such a speed, it could raise water levels by a whopping 3.4 metres over the next few centuries.

The study came as little surprise given the average temperature in the Antarctica jumped 40°C above average for three days in March.

However, while water levels could reach 3.4 metres higher as a result of the Doomsday Glacier melting, what would Earth look like if all of the ice currently on it melted?

Nickolay Adamiuk/Alamy Stock Photo

Science Insider took to YouTube to post a video of what Earth would like if it became iceless.

The caption reads: "We learned last year that many of the effects of climate change are irreversible. Sea levels have been rising at a greater rate year after year, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates they could rise by another meter or more by the end of this century.

"As National Geographic showed us in 2013, sea levels would rise by 216 feet if all the land ice on the planet were to melt. This would dramatically reshape the continents and drown many of the world's major cities."

SeaTops/Alamy Stock Photo

People have since flooded to the comments to give their views on the harrowing idea Earth could one day have no ice - some taking the severity of the climate crisis and the reality Earth could one day be iceless a lot less seriously than others.

One said: "Actually, I thought it would be much worse than that - because sea levels were supposed to have varied from 140-220 metres higher than today's levels during the Ordovician period, when all the ice did melt. A 220 metre rise would cover a lot more areas than shown here.

"According to this, Scotland remains completely safe while only parts of England are submerged.

"I see China gets its own inland sea which it can dominate in peace without anyone else being bothered about it."

However, others were quick to point out just how serious an image this is.

Science Insider/YouTube

"The power of water is incredible. We've seen so many examples of that, hurricanes, tsunami's etc. People still are not taking this seriously," one said.

Another wrote: "It very scary to see my state under water."

A final resolved: "That’s so sad and almost nerve wracking that this could happen if we don’t do something."

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