Mar 2, 2026 10:27 PM
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1117840
INTRO: A comprehensive 30-year study led by University of California, Irvine glaciologists has produced a circumpolar ice grounding line migration map of Antarctica. An amalgamation of three decades of satellite data compiled and analyzed by the researchers revealed that while most of Antarctica remains remarkably stable, vulnerable sectors are losing grounded ice equivalent to the size of Greater Los Angeles every three years.
The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows that 77 percent of Antarctica’s coastline has experienced no grounding line migration since 1996. However, concentrated retreat in West Antarctica, the Antarctic Peninsula and portions of East Antarctica has resulted in a loss of 12,820 square kilometers (nearly 5,000 square miles) of grounded ice – akin to roughly 10 cities the size of Greater Los Angeles – over the 30-year period.
“The grounding line is where continental ice meets the ocean, and measuring the movement of grounding lines with satellite-based synthetic aperture radar has been our gold standard for documenting ice sheet stability,” said lead author Eric Rignot, UC Irvine Distinguished Professor and Donald Bren Professor of Earth system science. “We’ve known it’s critically important for 30 years, but this is the first time we’ve mapped it comprehensively across all of Antarctica over such a long time span.”
The ice sheet has been retreating from the grounding line at an average rate of 442 square kilometers per year. The most dramatic changes occurred in West Antarctica’s Amundsen Sea and Getz sectors, where glaciers retreated 10 to about 40 kilometers. Pine Island Glacier retreated 33 kilometers, Thwaites Glacier 26 kilometers, and Smith Glacier an extraordinary 42 kilometers.
“Where warm ocean water is pushed by winds to reach glaciers, that’s where we see the big wounds in Antarctica,” explained Rignot, who’s also a senior research scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “It’s like the balloon that’s not punctured everywhere, but where it is punctured, it’s punctured deep.” (MORE - details, no ads)
INTRO: A comprehensive 30-year study led by University of California, Irvine glaciologists has produced a circumpolar ice grounding line migration map of Antarctica. An amalgamation of three decades of satellite data compiled and analyzed by the researchers revealed that while most of Antarctica remains remarkably stable, vulnerable sectors are losing grounded ice equivalent to the size of Greater Los Angeles every three years.
The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows that 77 percent of Antarctica’s coastline has experienced no grounding line migration since 1996. However, concentrated retreat in West Antarctica, the Antarctic Peninsula and portions of East Antarctica has resulted in a loss of 12,820 square kilometers (nearly 5,000 square miles) of grounded ice – akin to roughly 10 cities the size of Greater Los Angeles – over the 30-year period.
“The grounding line is where continental ice meets the ocean, and measuring the movement of grounding lines with satellite-based synthetic aperture radar has been our gold standard for documenting ice sheet stability,” said lead author Eric Rignot, UC Irvine Distinguished Professor and Donald Bren Professor of Earth system science. “We’ve known it’s critically important for 30 years, but this is the first time we’ve mapped it comprehensively across all of Antarctica over such a long time span.”
The ice sheet has been retreating from the grounding line at an average rate of 442 square kilometers per year. The most dramatic changes occurred in West Antarctica’s Amundsen Sea and Getz sectors, where glaciers retreated 10 to about 40 kilometers. Pine Island Glacier retreated 33 kilometers, Thwaites Glacier 26 kilometers, and Smith Glacier an extraordinary 42 kilometers.
“Where warm ocean water is pushed by winds to reach glaciers, that’s where we see the big wounds in Antarctica,” explained Rignot, who’s also a senior research scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “It’s like the balloon that’s not punctured everywhere, but where it is punctured, it’s punctured deep.” (MORE - details, no ads)
