Science

If all the ice in Greenland melted, some of the major capitals would disappear

It is estimated that sea levels will rise by around seven meters when this happens.

Update: Oct 26th, 2025 17:40 CET

The ice sheet covering Greenland is equivalent to seven times the size of the United Kingdom. Climate change threatens to melt the glaciers, an issue that jeopardizes the future of some cities. Scientists are aware that if the Greenland ice sheet melts completely, sea levels will rise by more than 6 meters.

“If the Greenland ice sheet were to completely melt and the meltwater were to completely flow into the ocean, then global sea level would rise by about seven meters (23 feet) and Earth would rotate more slowly, with the length of the day becoming longer than it is today, by about 2 milliseconds”, NASA explains.

On the contrary, the melting of Arctic ice does not change sea level “because the ice displaces its volume and, hence, does not change Earth’s rotation.”

If all the ice in Greenland melted, some of the major capitals would disappear

New York, London, and coastal cities: victims of melting ice

This process could take hundreds or thousands of years, but some studies, such as the one published in Science Advances, have already analyzed the possible consequences for more than 200 cities. NASA has created an interactive tool that allows users to select cities to see how they would be affected by the melting of various glaciers.

Cities such as London and New York would be affected by rising sea levels to such an extent that they could disappear. Many coastal cities such as Barcelona, Miami, and Venice should be added to that list.