[Vision2020] May 22, 2014: "Doubling of Antarctic ice loss revealed by European satellite"

[Ted Moffett]

http://environmentalresearchweb.org/cws/article/news/57326

May 22, 2014 Doubling of Antarctic ice loss revealed by European satellite

Antarctica is shedding 160 billion tonnes a year of ice into the ocean,
twice the amount of a few years ago, according to new satellite
observations. The ice loss is adding to the rising sea levels driven by
climate change and even east Antarctica is now losing ice.

>From the Guardian
<http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/may/19/doubling-of-antarctic-ice-loss-revealed-by-european-satellite>

The new revelations follow the announcement last week that the collapse of
the western Antarctica ice sheet has already begun and is unstoppable,
although it may take many centuries to complete.

Global warming is pushing up sea level by melting the world’s major ice
caps and by warming and expanding oceans waters. The loss of the entire
western Antarctica ice sheet would eventually cause up to 4 metres (13ft)
of sea-level rise, devastating low-lying and coastal areas around the
world.

The new data, published in journal Geophysical Research Letters, comes from
the European Space Agency’s CryoSat-2 satellite, which was launched in
2010.

It shows that the western Antarctica ice sheet is where 87% of the lost ice
is being shed, with the east Antarctic and the Antarctic peninsula shedding
the rest. The data collected from 2010-2013 was compared to that from
2005-2010.

The satellite measures changes in the height of the ice and covers
virtually the whole of the frozen continent, far more of than previous
altimeter missions.

CryoSat-2 collected five times more data than before in the crucial coastal
regions where ice losses are concentrated and found key glaciers were
losing many metres in height every year. The Pine Island, Thwaites and
Smith Glaciers in west Antarctica were losing between 4m and 8m annually.

“The increased thinning we have detected in west Antarctica is a worrying
development,” said Professor Andrew Shepherd, at the University of Leeds
and who led the study. “It adds concrete evidence that dramatic changes are
underway in this part of our planet.”

Professor David Vaughan, at the British Antarctic Survey and not involved
in this research, said: “The increasing contribution of Antarctica to
sea-level rise is a global issue, and we need to use every technique
available to understand where and how much ice is being lost. Through some
very clever technical improvements, [Shepherd’s team] have produced the
best maps of Antarctic ice-loss we have ever had. Prediction of the rate of
future global sea-level rise must be begin with a thorough understanding of
current changes in the ice sheets – this study puts us exactly where we
need to be.”

This article was shared by our content partner the Guardian
<http://www.theguardian.com/environment>. environmentalresearchweb is now a
member of the Guardian Environment Network
<http://www.theguardian.com/environment/series/guardian-environment-network>
.
 About the author

Damian Carrington <http://www.theguardian.com/profile/damiancarrington> is
the head of environment at the Guardian.

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Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett
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