Antarctic ice losses have DOUBLED in less than a decade with 159 billion tonnes of ice melting each year

  • The polar ice sheets are a major contributor to the rise in global sea levels
  • Losses from Antarctica alone are enough to raise global sea levels by 0.45 mm each year
  • Recent claims say glaciers may have passed a point of irreversible retreat

By Mark Prigg

The Antarctic ice sheet is melting at its fastest rate in history, it has been revealed.

Three years of observations from ESA’s CryoSat satellite show that the Antarctic ice sheet is now losing 159 billion tonnes of ice each year – twice as much as when it was last surveyed.

The polar ice sheets are a major contributor to the rise in global sea levels, and these newly measured losses from Antarctica alone are enough to raise global sea levels by 0.45 mm each year.

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Three years of measurements from the European CryoSat show that the Antarctic Ice Sheet is now losing 159 billion tonnes of ice each year, enough to raise global sea levels by 0.45 mm per year.

Three years of measurements from the European CryoSat show that the Antarctic Ice Sheet is now losing 159 billion tonnes of ice each year, enough to raise global sea levels by 0.45 mm per year.

WHAT IS CRYOSAT?

Launched in 2010, CryoSat carries a radar altimeter that can measure the surface height variation of ice in fine detail, allowing scientists to record changes in its volume with unprecedented accuracy.

CryoSat

CryoSat surveys almost all – 96% – of the Antarctic continent, reaching to within 215 km of the South Pole. In addition, it has increased coverage over coastal regions, where today’s ice losses are concentrated.

These latest findings by a team of scientists from the UK’s Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling show that the pattern of imbalance continues to be dominated by glaciers thinning in the Amundsen Sea sector of West Antarctica.

Between 2010 and 2013, West Antarctica, East Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula lost 134, 3 and 23 billion tonnes of ice each year, respectively.

 

The average rate of ice thinning in West Antarctica has increased compared to previous measurements, and this area’s yearly loss is now one third more than measured over the five years before CryoSat’s launch.

The data collected from 2010-2013 was compared to that from 2005-2010.

'We find that ice losses continue to be most pronounced along the fast-flowing ice streams of the Amundsen Sea sector, with thinning rates of 4-8 m per year near to the grounding lines – where the ice streams lift up off the land and begin to float out over the ocean – of the Pine Island, Thwaites and Smith Glaciers,' said Dr Malcolm McMillan from the University of Leeds, UK, and lead author of the study.

This area has long been identified as the most vulnerable to changes in climate.

Recent assessments say its glaciers may have passed a point of irreversible retreat.

Launched in 2010, CryoSat carries a radar altimeter that can measure the surface height variation of ice in fine detail, allowing scientists to record changes in its volume with unprecedented accuracy.

CryoSat surveys almost all – 96% – of the Antarctic continent, reaching to within 215 km of the South Pole. In addition, it has increased coverage over coastal regions, where today’s ice losses are concentrated.

'Thanks to its novel instrument design and to its near-polar orbit, CryoSat allows us to survey coastal and high-latitude regions of Antarctica that were beyond the capability of past altimeter missions, and it seems that these regions are crucial for determining the overall imbalance,' said Prof. Andrew Shepherd from the University of Leeds, UK, who led the study. 

The losses were most pronounced along the fast-flowing ice streams of the Amundsen Sea sector (pictured), with thinning rates of 4-8 m per year near to the grounding lines ¿ where the ice streams lift up off the land and begin to float out over the ocean

The losses were most pronounced along the fast-flowing ice streams of the Amundsen Sea sector (pictured), with thinning rates of 4-8 m per year near to the grounding lines ¿ where the ice streams lift up off the land and begin to float out over the ocean

In particular, newly mapped areas by CryoSat in West Antarctica have now brought altimeter observations closer to estimates based on other approaches.

This area has long been identified as the most vulnerable to changes in climate.

Recent assessments say its glaciers may have passed a point of irreversible retreat.

'Although we are fortunate to now have, in CryoSat, a routine capability to monitor the polar ice sheets, the increased thinning we have detected in West Antarctica is a worrying development,' said Professor Shepherd.

HAVE WE REACHED THE POINT OF NO RETURN?

Vast glaciers in West Antarctica seem to be locked in an irreversible thaw linked to global warming that may push up sea levels for centuries, scientists have claimed.

In a few hundred years they say the irreversible melt that has already started could eventually add four to 12 feet (1.2 to 3.7 metres) to current sea levels.

A Nasa study looking at 40 years of ground, airplane and satellite data of what researchers call 'the weak underbelly of West Antarctica' shows the melt is happening faster than scientists had predicted, crossing a critical threshold that has begun a domino-like process.

Two new studies indicate that part of the huge West Antarctic ice sheet is starting a slow collapse in an unstoppable way.

Six glaciers, eaten away from below by a warming of sea waters around the frozen continent, were flowing fast into the Amundsen Sea, according to the report based on data from 1992 to 2011

Two new studies indicate that part of the huge West Antarctic ice sheet is starting a slow collapse in an unstoppable way.

Six glaciers, eaten away from below by a warming of sea waters around the frozen continent, were flowing fast into the Amundsen Sea, according to the report based on data from 1992 to 2011

Evidence shows 'a large sector of the West Antarctic ice sheet has gone into a state of irreversible retreat', says lead author Eric Rignot of the University of California, Irvine, and Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

'It adds concrete evidence that dramatic changes are under way in this part of our planet.

'The challenge is to use this evidence to test and improve the predictive skill of climate models.'

The findings were published in Geophysical Research Letters.

'We at ESA are extremely pleased to see CryoSat achieve yet another one of its primary mission objectives.

'It is a great testament to the hard work put in by the whole team, who have worked on the mission over the past 10 years,' said Tommaso Parrinello, CryoSat Mission Manager.


The comments below have not been moderated.

They've got it wrong again because only 158 billion tonnes of ice melted.

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Nearly true however the Antarctic has gained more THAN DOUBLE THE ice on the other side than ever before. WONDER WHY THEY DON´T TELL YOU THAT.

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and when it freezes again in the arctic winter what is the net effect?????? Oh sorry of course we don't do science anymore while we milk the Global warming cow.....more grants more funding for global warming study! IF as it is claimed Antropogenic global warming is real it MUST follow that MORE PEOPLE equals MORE WARMING so WHY are we not debating the cause which is uncontrolled population growth?

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BS,BS,BS,BS,BS,BS,BS and more BS

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idiot

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If Antarctica melted the English they won't have Antarctica to steal.

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If Antarctica melted the English they won't have Antarctica to steal.

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The truth is that we do not manage our home very well at all. Mankind is the most destructive species on this planet, and we continue to destroy and pillage at will and without regard of the consequences. No easy solution as most people are more focused on the next pay check than seeing we have habitable planet in 200 years time! It is the future generations that are going to inherent the mess of today.

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That is because the pole is shifting. Google it "pole shift".

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Yeah, sure, during the (southern hemisphere) Summer, some ice melts off Antarctica. In Winter it freezes again. What is the important bit is how much of DIFFERENCE those two figures are - if there's more ice melting in Summer, then the article may be correct. On the other hand if there's as-much ice re-freezing again in Winter (or falling as Snow) - or there is more freezing or falling as snow than is melting - then the article is incorrect. Oddly, BOTH these scenarios are said to prove Global Warming. This is why so many people now see straight through the propaganda called "Global Warming"

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Many different organisations measure sea ice. Try looking at the Cryosphere Today site: ttp://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/IMAGES/seaice.anomaly.antarctic.png The current area of Antarctic Sea Ice is well above average.

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But it is the land ice that is decreasing - that is what the article is about.

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