A satellite analysis released by NASA shows that the world’s greatest ice sheet has lost twice as much ice in the last 25 years than previously thought, because Antarctica’s coastal glaciers are losing icebergs faster than the environment can restore the melting ice.
The study, led by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and published in Nature, revealed new concerns about how swiftly climate change is diminishing Antarctica’s floating ice shelves, which contribute to increasing global sea levels.
Ice shelves take thousands of years to create. Once constructed, they operate as buttresses, preventing glaciers from slipping into oceans and raising sea levels. Their size remains constant due to a cycle of calving and regrowth. Warmer oceans, on the other hand, have harmed the shelves from below in recent decades.
The study’s key conclusion was that the net loss of Antarctic ice from coastal glaciers calving into the ocean is comparable to the net amount of ice that scientists already knew was being lost due to glacier weakening caused by melting.
The report also stated that thinning and calving have reduced the volume of Antarctica’s ice shelves by 12 trillion tonnes since 1997, twice as much as predicted, covering the same area as Switzerland. He believes that 88% of the world’s ice may boost sea levels.
“Antarctica is crumbling at its edges,” stated Chad Greene, a JPL scientist, in a press statement. According to NASA, losses averaged 149 million tonnes per year from 2002 to 2022. Since 1997, the team has employed satellite images to measure and record glacier velocity and calving. Researchers estimated that before the end of this century, Antarctica will have reached pre-2000 glacier levels.