US EditionAntarctica has lost 10 times the size of Greater Los Angeles in ice over 30 years, satellite data reveal
- Researchers using a 30-year satellite radar record produced the first continentwide map of Antarctica's grounding line, revealing grounded-ice losses of roughly 4,942 square miles, or one Greater Los Angeles every three years.
- Winds push warm ocean water beneath floating ice shelves, thinning them and causing grounded ice to slide back in West Antarctica's Amundsen Sea and Getz sectors, the Antarctic Peninsula, and parts of East Antarctica.
- Measurements show Smith Glacier receded 26 miles, Pine Island 20.5 miles, Thwaites 16 miles, and Hektoria more than 12 miles since 1996.
- The map offers a new test for future sea-level projections as ice-sheet models must reproduce this 30-year grounding-line record to be credible for Antarctica's mass balance.
- The map indicates the continent is changing unevenly, with focused areas of retreat, highlighting the need for updated research models and further work on unclear triggers in parts of the northeast Antarctic Peninsula.
15 Articles
15 Articles
Antarctica lost 12,800 kilometres of coastline in just three decades in the critical zone that separates the land-based ice from that that floats over the sea. The retreat has not been uniform, but where it has occurred, the response has been swift and forceful. An international team led by the University of California has prepared the most complete map to date on the migration of the Antarctic support line between 1992 and 2025, confirming that…
The coast of Antarctica lost more than 12,800 square kilometres of ice in 30 years
Antarctica has lost 10 times the size of Greater Los Angeles in ice over 30 years, satellite data reveal
A comprehensive 30-year study led by University of California, Irvine glaciologists has produced a circumpolar ice grounding line migration map of Antarctica. An amalgamation of three decades of satellite data compiled and analyzed by the researchers revealed that while most of Antarctica remains remarkably stable, vulnerable sectors are losing grounded ice equivalent to the size of Greater Los Angeles every three years.
23% of the Antarctic coastline reduced its icy surface between 1992 and 2025, according to an analysis of satellite data. On the other hand, 77% of the coastline did not change during this period. This is indicated by a research focused on the analysis of the transition zone between land and sea in glaciers surrounding Antarctica.Continue reading...
Writing Science.- Antarctica lost, in 30 years, more than 12,800 kilometers of coastline in the transition line that separates the ice that rests on land from that that floats in the sea. A retreat concentrated on 23% of its surface, which, due to climate change, responded in a "dramatic way." In a glacier, the transition zone between land and sea, called the support line, is an indicator of its stability. A team of glaciologists, headed by the …
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