Meltdown
A recent analysis of Greenland’s ice sheet shows just how quickly and intricately its ice is thinning.
The Greenland ice sheet—a behemoth body of ice composed of layers of 100,000-year-old compacted snow—is particularly vulnerable to climate change. If it were to completely melt, sea levels around the globe would rise by a staggering 25 feet. Recent analysis of NASA satellite, laser and radar data, which spanned nearly a decade, not only indicates that the ice sheet suffered an average loss of about 80 trillion gallons of ice per year between 2003 and 2012, but the resulting changes in ice thickness from region to region also varied each year. These findings suggest that the ice sheet is more complex and thinning more rapidly than previously thought. The implications are vast. Even slight increases in sea level could impact coastal habitats and force hundreds of millions of people to relocate due to the increased risk of flooding. Watch the video to learn more.
Explore the changes that have taken place on Greenland’s ice sheet from 2003 to 2012 in this video.
Ice sheet measurements since 2003 show increased thinning (green, blue, purple) in coastal areas and thickening (yellow) in the interior.
As the interior ice thickens and becomes heavier, it is pulled toward the coast. The lines above depict the direction and speed of moving ice.
Ice flows in different regions of the ice sheet are shown here over a map of Greenland’s bedrock topography.
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio
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Writer
- Julia Calderone (USRA)
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Animators
- Cindy Starr (Global Science and Technology, Inc.)
- Horace Mitchell (NASA/GSFC)
- Greg Shirah (NASA/GSFC)
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Video editor
- Cindy Starr (Global Science and Technology, Inc.)
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Narrator
- Jefferson Beck (USRA)
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Producer
- Jefferson Beck (USRA)
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Scientists
- Babonis Greg (University at Buffalo)
- J. L. Bamber (School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, UK)
- Beata Csatho (University at Buffalo)
- J. A. Dowdeswell (University of Cambridge)
- Ian Howat (Ohio State University)
- R. T. W. L. Hurkmans (University of Bristol)
- P. Gogineni (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Kansas)
- J. A. Griggs (School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol)
- Jeremie Mouginot (University of California, Irvine)
- John Paden (University of Kansas)
- S. Palmer (University of Cambridge)
- Eric J. Rignot (NASA/JPL CalTech)
- Tony Schenk (University at Buffalo)
- Daniel Steinhage (Alfred Wegener Institute)
- Michael Studinger (NASA/GSFC)
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Support
- Ian Jones (ADNET Systems, Inc.)
- Laurence Schuler (ADNET Systems, Inc.)
- Lori Perkins (NASA/GSFC)
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Narration
- Jefferson Beck (USRA)
- Cindy Starr (Global Science and Technology, Inc.)
Release date
This page was originally published on Thursday, April 30, 2015.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:49 PM EDT.
Related
- ID: 4022
Visualization