Last year, the world’s average temperature was one of the hottest on record, sea levels are at historic highs, and the Arctic lost unprecedented amounts of sea ice.  Get used to it, because it appears to be the way things are going to be.

“Our planet as a whole is becoming a warmer place,"” said Kathryn Sullivan US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) upon the release of a new report that should serve as a red alert to policy makers of every country.

The report doesn’t go into the causes, but does note the continued increases in heat-trapping greenhouse gases including carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide – the results of human activity.

“Over the past seven years of so, it appears that the ice melt is contributing more than twice as much to the global sea level rise compared with warming waters,” said MOAA Climatologist Jessica Blunden.

The loss of sea ice is causing a domino effect on the arctic food chain.

“The effects of melting and warming on microorganisms living under ice in this biome already have received much attention,” said Eric Post, lead researcher and a Penn State University biology professor.  “Animals living near the ice likely are feeling the effects, as well.”

Researchers are finding Polar Bears starved to death, because the ice cover they depend on to hunt seals is gone.