‘Ice piracy’ identified through satellite observations in Antarctica
8th May 2025
Research published today (Thurs May 8) in the journal The Cryosphere shows one glacier siphoning ice from another in the Pope, Smith and Kohler (PSK) region in West Antarctica.
This phenomenon, termed ‘ice piracy’ was previously thought to only take place over centuries or millennia, however the team of scientists, led by Heather Selley (University of Leeds), used satellite observations from the Copernicus Sentinel-1 and CryoSat-2 missions, among others, to show that a faster-flowing Kohler East Glacier has been ‘stealing’ ice from a slower neighbour over the last 18 years.
Measuring the displacement of crevasses or rifts the team was able to calculate ice velocity, and through this they discovered that most ice flows from the glaciers had sped up, but that one had slowed down. The research also identified changes in the direction of flow which they believe led to the Kohler East Glacier siphoning the ice from Kohler West Glacier.
This discovery helps improve understanding of ice dynamics in the Antarctic and how ice melt there is contributing to sea level rise.
The research was a collaboration led by Leeds, with researchers from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and the UK Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling (CPOM) which is led from Northumbria University, using data provided by satellites belonging to the European Space Agency (ESA), Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Canadian Space Agency and NASA.
