"The melting fresh water from glaciers alters the ocean, not only by directly contributing to the global sea level rise, but also because it pushes down the heavier salt water, thereby changing what scientists call the THC, or Thermo (heat) Haline (salt) Circulation, meaning currents in the ocean. This has an immediate effect on the near region, such as the north Atlantic off the coast of Greenland, but ultimately the impacts can ripple far beyond the immediate area and climate. Ice that took centuries to develop can vanish in just a few years. A glacier doesn?t melt slowly and steadily like an ice cube on a table. Once glacial ice begins to break down, the interaction of meltwater and sea water with the glacier?s structure can cause increasingly fast melting and retreat. Today, Earth?s surface is made up of 71% water, 10% ice and 19% land. Most of the world?s ice is in the Arctic and Antarctic, but some of it is scattered around Earth in the form of mountain glaciers..."