visual proof of mendenhall's steady retreat. in the winter, will this come back? >> the retreat sends to slow down in the wintertime. maybe it stabilizes or creeps forward a tiny little bit. but boy, as soon as the warming season comes back on, it continues to gobble itself backwards. >> reporter: the satellite pictures back that up. since '79, half the arctic sea ice have disappeared. just this year, 4.5 scare miles melted away. an area the size of the u.s. and mexico combined. >> okay, here it comes. >> reporter: meanwhile, back when jim was mounting his first ice cameras, an artist in brooklyn was pushing the kind of machine you use to chalk lines on a ball field. after reading a scary 2001 prediction from nasa that climate change powered storms would wipe out entire neighborhoods, she decided to see which neighborhoods, by marking the high water line around new york city. >> this would be under water. this would be dry, so, there would be a little dry strip down the center of the road and all of this would be under water. >> reporter: her chalk was gone by the