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CryoSat and Sentinel-1A detect rapid ice loss in remote Arctic ice cap

By Chris Wood
January 26, 2015
CryoSat and Sentinel-1A detect rapid ice loss in remote Arctic ice cap
The Sentinel-1A (left) and CryoSat (right) satellites have provided key data on the degredation of the Austfonna ice cap (Image: ATG medialab/ESA/P. Carril)
The Sentinel-1A (left) and CryoSat (right) satellites have provided key data on the degredation of the Austfonna ice cap (Image: ATG medialab/ESA/P. Carril)
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The top figure shows the rate of elevation change between 2010 and 2014, with red indicating a lowering of ice surface. An evolution of ice velocity over two decades is shown at the bottom of the image (Image: CPOM/GRL)
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The top figure shows the rate of elevation change between 2010 and 2014, with red indicating a lowering of ice surface. An evolution of ice velocity over two decades is shown at the bottom of the image (Image: CPOM/GRL)
The Sentinel-1A (left) and CryoSat (right) satellites have provided key data on the degredation of the Austfonna ice cap (Image: ATG medialab/ESA/P. Carril)
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The Sentinel-1A (left) and CryoSat (right) satellites have provided key data on the degredation of the Austfonna ice cap (Image: ATG medialab/ESA/P. Carril)

Both the ESA’s Sentinel-1A and CryoSat satellites have detected a significant degree of ice loss in the Austfonna ice cap, located on Norway’s Nordaustlandet island in the Svalbard archipelago. Parts of the ice cap have thinned by as much as 50 m (164 ft) since 2012 – around a sixth of its total thickness, and the speed of the outer glacier has increased to 3.8 km (2.4 miles) per year.

The findings are the latest in a series readings over the last two decades detailing a significant increase in ice loss from the southeastern part of Austfonna. The study was led by the Centre for Polar Observations and Modelling (CPOM) at the University of Leeds in the UK, combining key data from both the Sentinel-1A and CryoSat, as well as six other satellite missions.

Aside from the thinning, the new findings show that the ice cap’s outer glacier is flowing 25 times faster than in early records, moving as much as 3.8 km (2.36 miles) per year, or half a meter (1.64 ft) per hour. The thinning has also now spread more than 50 km (31 miles) inland, putting it within 10 km (6.2 miles) of the summit.

The top figure shows the rate of elevation change between 2010 and 2014, with red indicating a lowering of ice surface. An evolution of ice velocity over two decades is shown at the bottom of the image (Image: CPOM/GRL)
The top figure shows the rate of elevation change between 2010 and 2014, with red indicating a lowering of ice surface. An evolution of ice velocity over two decades is shown at the bottom of the image (Image: CPOM/GRL)

“Glacier surges, similar to what we have observed, are a well-known phenomenon," said Dr. Mal McMillan, the lead author of the study. "However, what we see here is unusual because it has developed over such a long period of time, and appears to have started when ice began to thin and accelerate at the coast."

It’s thought that rising temperatures in the surrounding ocean observed in recent years may have sparked the coastal ice cap thinning. The team will work with existing ice flow models to further analyze the cause of the ice cap behavior in an attempt to confirm this, as well as provide improved predictions for future ice loss and sea level rise.

Missions such as the ESA’s CryoSat, which carries a radio altimeter to measure ice and sea level height, are essential in clarifying our understanding of ice loss. They allow scientists to systematically monitor ice sheets and caps, providing a much greater pool of data from which to assess future developments.

Source: ESA

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SpaceSatelliteClimate CrisisESASentinelCryoSat
4 comments
Chris Wood
Chris specializes in science and consumer technology for New Atlas, but also likes to dabble in the latest gaming gadgets. He has a degree in Politics and Ancient History from the University of Exeter, and lives in Gloucestershire, UK. In his spare time you might find him playing music, following a variety of sports or binge watching Game of Thrones.

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4 comments
Robert in Vancouver
So a small bit of ice has thinned in one place.
But of course global warming scare stories never mention the inconvenient fact that most of the south and north pole ice caps have thickened to record levels.
Phillip Noe
And while our world warms many members of the U.S. Congress (mostly republicans) deny that our emissions are affecting climate patterns. It's a rejection of reality. EVERY respected scientific institution that considered the issue agrees on the core issue; humans are in fact warming the earth and the consequences are not good. The Congressmen/women that deny this reality put our future generations at risk for the sake of their sponsors or some political agenda.
moreover
I suggest people seek out scientific sources about ice rather than give the unsourced claims of “robo” any creedence. E.g. the National Snow and Ice Data Center: http://nsidc.org/cryosphere/climate-change.html , the Arctic Sea-Ice Monitor at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks: http://www.ijis.iarc.uaf.edu/en/home/seaice_extent.htm , NOAA: http://www.noaa.gov/features/monitoring_1008/arcticice.html , or NASA: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/SeaIce/page2.php Today’s satellite measurements offer excellent resolution and map locations that are very hard to access.
Don Duncan
Phillip: Every prediction in "An Inconvenient Truth" has been not just false, but the opposite is happening. A decade of cooling has silenced the call for centralized control by politicians. Even when warming was happening, the cause is solar emissions, not human emissions.