Ground-breaking polar ice loss study led by UK university

Ground-breaking polar ice loss study led by UK university Scientists at the University of Northumbria have compiled the longest satellite data record of ice sheet change ever assembled, revealing that Greenland and Antarctica have lost 11 trillion tonnes of ice since the 1970s. They estimate that this ice melt has contributed to a global sea level rise of about three centimetres in the past half century. The study – published in the journal Scientific Data – involved combining measurements from 27 satellites, including the British-backed ice-monitoring CryoSat mission, to provide a continuous decades-long perspective on polar ice sheet change. This extensive data record was used to investigate the mechanisms behind long-term ice losses, showing that glaciers that drain vast ice sheets are flowing more quickly, directing huge quantities of ice into the polar oceans. The study was completed as part of the Ice Sheet Mass Balance Intercomparison Exercise (IMBIE), an international collaboration of polar scientists that is supported by the European Space Agency and NASA. Inès Otosaka, Northumbria University scientist and study lead, said, “By reaching back to the 1970s, we can now see how the ice sheets have changed across half a century. More than four-fifths of the ice lost was discharged into the ocean by faster-flowing glaciers, rather than melted at the surface – which tells us the long-term trend is being driven by the dynamic response of the ice sheets to a warming ocean.” You can read the full story about the Northumbria University study on the Earth observation pages of esa.int.