Observing how land ice is changing is critical because it tells us how ice melt is affecting global sea levels, and also allows us to investigate, and better understand, how climate change is affecting these vast, yet remote, ice bodies.
Thanks to ESA satellite CryoSat-2, advances in radar altimetry instrument technology and processing now allow us to study the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets in unprecedented detail. By combining CryoSat’s data with that from older altimetry missions, we have been able to chart the increasing contribution of the ice sheets to global sea levels and investigate how key glaciers have behaved since 1992.
Related Projects
Click on the projects below to find out more.
IMBIE – Ice Sheet Mass Balance Intercomparison Project
Reconciling satellite-based measurements of ice sheet mass balance to reduce uncertainties in estimates of ice loss and improve projections of future sea level rise.
BIOPOLE – Biogeochemical processes and ecosystem function in a changing polar system.
Providing a step change in the knowledge and predictive capability concerning how polar ecosystems regulate the chemical balance of the world’s oceans and, through it, their effect on global fish stocks and carbon storage.
TerraFIRMA – Future impacts risks and mitigation actions
Providing reliable guidance on the risks and impacts of future climate change
Recent Publications
