Its beauty is central to its impact, believes Nicklen. It appeared multiple times in National Geographic, was used by Al Gore in his climate talks, and graced the cover of Pearl Jam’s 2020 album “Gigaton,” the title of which refers to the unit used to calculate ice mass. The picture came to symbolize the realities of climate change and became Nicklen’s best-selling fine art image. “It was the most poetic, beautiful scene I’d ever seen, but it was also haunting and scary,” he recalls.

As he came around the corner of an ice cap on Nordaustlandet island, he saw more than a dozen waterfalls pouring off its face. It was August 2014, and temperatures in Svalbard, Norway, were unusually warm – hovering above 70 degrees Fahrenheit (21 degrees Celsius). Water cascading from a wall of ice with gray brushstrokes of clouds overhead makes for a beautiful image – but the story behind it is one of destruction Earth’s glaciers are melting at an unprecedented rate due to human-caused climate change.Ĭanadian photographer Paul Nicklen remembers taking the photograph.

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