Human activities have already gifted our coming generations irreversible weather conditions, and further conditions are also not showing any good signs. Between 2010 and 2023, the Greenland Ice Sheet thinned by 1.2 metres on average, according to scientists from Northumbria University’s research team, which has used data from satellites to track changes in the thickness of the Greenland Ice Sheet. However, thinning across the ice sheet’s margin (the ablation zone) was over five times larger, amounting to 6.4 metres on average.
The ablation zone is the lower part of the glacier where more snow is lost than accumulates. In late summer, when the seasonal snow has melted away from the surrounding valley walls, bare ice of the ablation zone is exposed. All glaciers have accumulation and ablation zones.
The scientists further revealed that global warming is causing the Ice Sheet to melt and flow more rapidly, raising sea levels and disturbing weather patterns across our planet. “Because of this, precise measurements of its changing shape are of critical importance for tracking and adapting to the effects of climate warming”, the study added.
The greatest thinning has occurred at the outlet glaciers of the ice sheets, many of which are undergoing faster flow, the study revealed.
At Sermeq Kujalleq in west-central Greenland (Jakobshavn Isbræ), there was a thinning of 67 meters, while Zachariae Isstrøm in the northeast reported thinning up to 75 meters.
In the last 13 years, the ice sheet has lost 2,347 km³ of ice, equivalent to the volume of Africa’s Lake Victoria.
The maximum loss happened in 2012 and 2019 when the summer temperatures shot up, thus losing the ice sheet more than 400 km³ annually.
Greenland also affects global ocean circulation and weather pattern changes, influencing global ecosystems and communities.
Accurate and timely information about changes in ice sheets will be critical for adaptations required to address the impacts of climate change.
BBC also published a report detailing how scientists are battling dangerously thin ice to conduct their studies, which is causing significant hurdles, including equipment falling through into the sea below.
The news site spoke to scientists who have been studying in Antarctica since 2005 and are now facing increasing challenges. For 20 years, Simon Morley has been cutting holes in Antarctic sea ice and diving into the frigid waters below to study unique sea life, including sea squirts and sponges. However, climate change is thinning the ice, making it unsafe to travel over.
“We used to get 100 or more dives through the sea ice during the winter period,” said Morley to BBC, who is a a marine biologist with the British Antarctic Survey (BAS). He added, “Last year, I think [my colleagues] managed maybe five to ten dives through the sea ice.”
The thinning ice is creating a Catch-22 situation. “It’s too thick to get the boats out, but not thick enough to cut holes in with the chainsaw for diving,” he explains. A possible solution is to keep boats on standby during the winter, so they can be launched immediately when a window of opportunity opens.
He mentioned that Antarctica was once assumed to be a perennially ice-bound world. However, while the continent remains a harsh and inhospitable environment for humans, it is undergoing significant changes. The volume of frozen water is rapidly decreasing, vegetation is spreading across the landmass, and air temperatures are rising.
Morley also told the BBC that the glacier he learned to ski on in South Georgia is no longer a glacier; it is no longer there. Instead, the island, located northeast of the Antarctic Peninsula, has gained areas of bare ground, and patches of invasive meadow grass have appeared. Since it is no longer possible to conduct as many dives throughout the year to study life in the seas, he and his colleagues are now trying to carry out these dives in clusters during the summer and winter. This approach allows them to make seasonal comparisons instead of performing continuous monitoring.
Lead author and CPOM researcher Nitin Ravinder expressed excitement about the discovery that CryoSat-2 and ICESat-2 data are in close agreement. He stated, “Their complementary nature provides a strong motivation to combine the data sets for improved estimates of ice sheet volume and mass changes. As ice sheet mass loss is a major contributor to global sea level rise, this is invaluable for both the scientific community and policymakers.”
The study utilised four years of measurements from both missions, including data from the Cryo2ice campaign, a pioneering ESA-NASA partnership initiated in 2020. By adjusting CryoSat-2’s orbit to synchronize with ICESat-2, ESA enabled near-simultaneous collection of radar and laser data over the same regions. This alignment allows for unprecedented accuracy in measuring snow depth from space and tracking sea and land ice thickness.
Tommaso Parrinello, CryoSat Mission Manager at ESA, expressed optimism about the campaign’s impact: “CryoSat has provided invaluable insight into our planet’s ice coverage over the past 14 years. By aligning our data with ICESat-2, we’ve opened new avenues for precision and understanding. This collaboration is a significant step forward, not only in technology but also in supporting scientists and policymakers who rely on our data to address climate impacts.”
Thorsten Markus, project scientist for the ICESat-2 mission at NASA, remarked, “It’s great to see that the data from these ‘sister missions’ are providing a consistent picture of changes in Greenland. Understanding the similarities and differences between radar and lidar ice sheet height measurements allows us to fully leverage the complementary nature of these satellite missions.”
ESA’s CryoSat-2 continues to play a crucial role in understanding climate-related changes in polar ice, working alongside NASA’s ICESat-2 to provide accurate data on ice sheet changes. Together, these missions mark a significant advancement in monitoring polar ice loss and preparing for its global consequences.
CPOM, a collaboration of six universities and the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), is based at Northumbria University and primarily funded by the National Environment Research Council (NERC). CPOM uses satellite observations to monitor changes in the Polar regions and numerical models to predict how ice and oceans might evolve. By providing long-term capabilities to the scientific community and leading international assessments, CPOM helps global policymakers plan for the impacts of climate change and sea level rise.
(Sources: BBC and Northumbria University)