Written by Susan Kraemer All of this infrastructure could be out of commission in a century. Nearly all the infrastructure in Dubai could be underwater by 2100.

From the Arctic sea ice to the Antarctic interior and the mountainous peaks of Peru, Alaska, and Tibet, ice is melting at an alarming rate. The accelerating loss of ice sheets, sea ice, and glaciers is one of the most powerful and striking indicators of a warming climate. The most notable ice loss in recent years has been the shrinking of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean. From the beginning of the satellite record in 1979 through 1996, ice area decreased at a steady rate of 3 percent per decade in response to rising temperature.

A European satellite is set to provide major new insights into how water is cycled around the Earth. The Smos spacecraft will make the first global maps of the amount of moisture held in soils and of the quantity of salts dissolved in the oceans. The data will have wide uses but should improve weather forecasts and warnings of extreme events, such as floods. Miras will measure changes in the wetness of the land and in the salinity of seawater by observing variations in the natural ...

By Gerard Wynn Gerard Wynn – Tue Sep 29, 3:14 pm ET OXFORD, England (Reuters) – A rise of at least two meters in the world's sea levels is now almost unstoppable, experts told a climate conference at Oxford University on Tuesday. "The crux of the sea level issue is that it starts very slowly but once it gets going it is practically unstoppable," said Stefan Rahmstorf, a scientist at Germany's Potsdam Institute and a widely recognized sea level expert.

The most optimistic view about Greenland and Antarctica ice melt is now off the table, and the worst case scenario about accelerating, self-perpetuating ice melt is front and center in climate science, according to science experts, reacting to news about fresh NASA-funded research being published in Nature this week. What does this mean for renewable energy start-ups? Start more companies and faster, would be the logical implication for the sector.