Glacier Flow Drives 84% of Ice Loss, Study Finds — SkimNews
Get the Energy newsletter
Daily energy & climate — solar, EVs, oil, the policy fights and tech bets shaping the transition. Free.
- Inès Otosaka at Northumbria University led a study finding that 84% of accelerating ice loss in Greenland and Antarctica comes from glacier flow into the ocean, with only 16% from surface melt
- The longest satellite record ever compiled shows ice loss has sped up by a factor of four since the 1980s due to global warming
- Researchers extended the ice loss record back to 1972 for Greenland using early Landsat 1 measurements, filling gaps before regular satellite monitoring began in 1979
- Greenland and Antarctica have lost 11.3 trillion tonnes of ice in the past half-century—equivalent to an ice cube 23 kilometres high
- Michael Meredith at the British Antarctic Survey warned that the ocean-driven share is concerning because ocean-ice feedbacks can produce faster, nonlinear responses
- Glaciers like Thwaites sit over bedrock that slopes downward from coast to interior, creating the risk of marine ice sheet instability (MISI) and marine ice cliff instability (MICI), both of which remain major uncertainties in sea level projections
- Ice loss has raised sea levels 3 centimetres since the 1970s, putting up to 9 million more people at risk of coastal flooding; sea levels could rise up to 2 metres this century
Why it matters: For the 9 million additional people now exposed to coastal flooding, the study reframes the threat: surface-melt models underweight the dominant 84%—ocean-driven glacier flow—which involves feedback loops (MISI, MICI) that Meredith says could push Antarctic losses above the currently-expected range. Current sea level projections may systematically underestimate how fast the ice sheets can respond.
Ask SkimNews
