Melting ice in Greenland and Antarctic islands

Recently, space satellites have provided scientists with the most comprehensive picture of rapidly moving glaciers along the Antarctic and Greenland coasts. This is an important new step in the investigation process to give an accurate forecast of future sea level rise.

According to the Nature issue this week, researchers from the University of Bristol and Antarctic Institute of Antarctica after analyzing millions of NASA satellite measurements have concluded that the phenomenon of strong melting especially because glaciers accelerate as they flow into the ocean.

The authors conclude that the kinetic process of glaciers has now spread to all positions (at different latitudes) in Greenland, most seriously in coastal areas. Antarctica, and are attacking deep into the center of the ice.

New maps of Greenland and Antarctica show that the level of melting is getting worse.(Photo: ICESat, NASA)

Dr. Hamish Pritchard from the UK Antarctic Survey Institute, the leader of the research team, said: 'We were surprised to see that the thin glacier is going strong on a large area. Thus - this phenomenon is very popular and even, in some cases, melting ice also attacks hundreds of kilometers deep into the center of the continent. We believe that hot currents towards the shore and melting glaciers are the most likely causes of faster glaciers. So far, people have not understood much about this form of melting ice, and this is the most difficult part in predicting future sea level rise. '

Scientists compared the rate of change of both fast flowing glaciers and slow flowing glaciers. For example, in Greenland Island, they surveyed 111 fast-flowing glaciers and found that 81 of these are thinning at twice the rate of slow-flowing glaciers at the same latitude. They found that melting ice in many glaciers of both the Antarctic and Greenland is happening at a faster rate than the rise of ice on the continent.

In Antarctica, the ice is melting the fastest on the west bank (Amundsen Bay): The Pin Island glacier and nearby glaciers Smith and Thwaites are thinning to 9m per year.