Ashley Cooper

Russell Glacier, from Kangerlussuaq, Greenland;

Photographic print

Russell Glacier is one of the most accessible outlets of the Greenland Ice Sheet, offering a striking glimpse of a landscape undergoing rapid change. As Arctic temperatures rise faster than the global average, melting ice is transforming Greenland’s glaciers and contributing to rising sea levels around the world.

Ashley Cooper is an award-winning British environmental photographer whose work documents the causes and impacts of climate change around the world. Beginning with a photographic expedition to Alaska in 2004, Cooper spent 14 years travelling across every continent, recording melting glaciers, extreme weather, threatened wildlife and communities on the frontline of a warming planet, as well as the growth of renewable energy.

His landmark book, Images from a Warming Planet, brings together around 500 photographs from this extraordinary project. In 2010, Cooper won the climate change category of Environmental Photographer of the Year, and his images have been widely used by international media and environmental organisations.

Greenland is losing around 270 billion tonnes of ice every year. Since 1992, melting from the Greenland Ice Sheet has contributed around 1.4 cm to global sea-level rise. Continued ice loss could weaken Atlantic Ocean currents, alter weather patterns and reshape coastlines around the world.

RENEWAL IN ACTION

Watching the Ice

Greenland’s PROMICE programme uses a network of automatic weather stations, GPS instruments and satellite observations to monitor melting and movement around the ice sheet. By delivering data in near real time, the programme is improving forecasts of ice loss and sea-level rise, helping communities better prepare for future sea-level rise.