Austfonna Ice Cap Melts During The Arctic Summer

In his 1997 book Ice: The Ultimate Disaster, author Richard Noone predicted that on May 5, 2000, the planets would perfectly align--and end life as we know it by sending melting ice (above, the Austfonna ice cap melts during the Arctic summer) barreling toward Earth's Equator.Noone argued in the book that Earth's previous axis shifts had coincided with tremendous climatic changes--such as ice ages--and that such "almost unimaginable results" would happen again.No such calamity occurred, and many scientists are now concerned about ice for another reason: Warming temperatures are gradually causing the world's frozen regions to melt away.

—Photograph by Paul Nicklen, National Geographic Stock