News archive

CPOM’s Professor Andrew Shepherd and Dr Sammie Buzzard feature in POP23 video

CPOM Director Prof Andrew Shepherd and CPOM Assistant Director Sammie Shepherd discuss the importance of protecting our polar regions and ...
/ Uncategorised

European satellite ERS-2 returns to earth after almost 30 years

This week we watched along with many across the globe, as pioneer European satellite ERS-2 finally made its journey back ...

Examining the Antarctic and Greenland Ice Sheets and their impact on future sea level rise – new research out now

New research states that future rises in sea level could be better estimated by gaining a clearer understanding of the ...
/ Uncategorised

CPOM study evaluates satellite methods for estimating supraglacial lake depth published in The Cryosphere

During the melt season (typically from May to September) on the Greenland ice sheet, water collects in depressions on the ...
/ Uncategorised

CPOM publishes paper ‘Multipeak retracking of radar altmetry waveforms over ice sheets’ in Remote Sensing of Environment

CPOM publishes paper ‘Multipeak retracking of radar altimetry waveforms over ice sheets’ in Remote Sensing of Environment, introducing a new ...

New Job Vacancy: Senior Research Associate in Ice Sheet Geodesy

Exciting new role at Lancaster University, now open for applications. Click here for more information ...
/ Uncategorised

New Job Vacancy: Research Fellow in Physical Geography and Environmental Science

Exciting new role at Northumbria University, now open for applications. Click here for more information ...
/ Uncategorised

What is ‘firn’, and how does it impact the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets?

‘Firn On Ice Sheets’, by The Firn Symposium Team, was published today in Nature Reviews Earth and Environment (23.1.24). The ...

CPOM at AGU 2023

Meeting Time Zone PST AGU23 (confex.com) Monday 11th December Session Type Start time End Time Location Session Title Author/Speaker Talk ...
/ Events

AI can map giant icebergs from satellite images 10,000 times faster than humans

Scientists have trained an artificial intelligence (AI) system to accurately map the surface area and outline of giant icebergs captured on satellite images in just ...
/ Icebergs, Sentinel-1

Polar ice sheet melting records have toppled during the past decade

Press release: 20 April 2023, Northumbria University - Polar ice sheet melting records have toppled during the past decade | ...

Guest EGU Blog-For Dummies: Radar altimetry for measuring ice sheet elevation changes

CPOM scientist, Inès Otosaka features as the guest EGU blogger and talks about the importance of radar altimetry in glaciology ...
/ Antarctic, Arctic, Blog, CryoSat, Sea level rise

ESA CryoVEx/DEFIANT Antarctica campaign

The following blog was written by Research Fellow, Inès Otosaka based at the University of Leeds. Last month (December 2022), ...
/ Antarctic, Blog, CryoSat, Land ice, Sea ice

Protecting Our Planet Day 22

CPOM Director, Professor Andy Shepherd (University of Leeds) features in a STEM Learning episode on Protecting Our Ice, its now ...
/ Events

CPOM at COP27

PhD researcher, Robbie Mallett (UCL) attended COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, with the International Cryosphere Climate Initiative. During the ...
/ Antarctic,

Tamsin Edwards: New Parliamentary “Thematic Research Lead”

Congratulations to CPOM associate, Tamsin Edwards (KCL) who in 2023, will be on secondment as a new Parliamentary "Thematic Research ...
/ Uncategorised

International Astronautical Congress in Paris

CPOM Director, Professor Andy Shepherd (University of Leeds) joined Simonetta Cheli, ESA's Programmes and Head of ESRIN (ESA establishment in Italy) and ...
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All Eyes on Earth

Earth’s ice is melting 65% faster than the 1990s. But without satellites, we would be blind to the true status of global ...
/ Uncategorised

Satellites now get full-year view of Arctic sea-ice

Satellites can now measure the thickness of Arctic sea ice in the summer months for the first time, thanks to ...
/ Arctic, CryoSat, Sea ice

£47m to address critical environmental challenges facing the UK

The UKRI have awarded £47M to NERC research centres to address six critical environmental science challenges facing the UK, including climate change ...
/ Antarctic, Arctic, Sea ice, Sea level rise

CRYO2ICE Greenland Campaign 2022

The following blog was written by PhD researcher, Amy Swiggs based at the University of Leeds. Andy Shepherd, Inès Otosaka, ...
/ Arctic, Blog, CryoSat, Greenland, Ice sheets

New CryoSat-2 Thematic Products

As of January 2022, ESA has started releasing new CryoSat-2 Thematic Products, dedicated to five distinct areas: Sea Ice, Land ...
/ CryoSat, Land ice, Sea ice

The climate papers most featured in the media in 2021

Full article can be found at CarbonBrief. The 10 climate papers most featured in the media in 2021 includes CPOM's ...
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Mega iceberg released 152 billion tonnes of fresh water into ocean

Article first published by the University of Leeds – 19.01.22 Scientists monitoring the giant A68A Antarctic iceberg from space reveal ...

World’s ice is melting faster than ever

ESA - World's ice is melting faster than ever As global temperatures increase, the melting of the massive ice sheets ...

Extreme ice melting in Greenland raises global flood risk

Article first published by the University of Leeds - 02.11.21 Global warming has caused extreme ice melting events in Greenland ...
/ Arctic, Ice sheets, Sea level rise

Leeds research inspires glacier names to mark COP26

A glacier in West Antarctica has been formally named after the city of Glasgow to mark its hosting of the ...
/ Antarctic

Dr Rosie Willatt bringing research to secondary schools

The full story can be found at: Bringing research to secondary schools. | UCL Earth Sciences - UCL – University ...
/ , Sea ice

Arctic sea ice thinning faster than expected

The full story can be found at Arctic sea ice thinning faster than expected | UCL Mathematical & Physical Sciences ...
/ Arctic, Sea ice

CryoSat reveals ice loss from glaciers in Alaska and Asia

Noel Gourmelen, CPOM Associate Investigator at University of Edinburgh, is amongst the authors of a recent study, which shows that ...
/ CryoSat

Deep Learning for Ice Sheet Satellite Altimetry

Supervisors: Dr Mal McMillan, Dr Amber Leeson, Dr Ce Zhang, Adam Sykulski Institute: Lancaster University Overview The rationale: Melting of ...
/ CryoSat, Ice sheets, Sea level rise

Sea level rises from melting ice massively reduced by limiting global warming

Sea level rise caused by melting ice could be halved this century if the Paris Agreement target of limiting warming ...
/ Sea level rise

European State of the Climate 2020 Report

CPOM contributed to the European State of the Climate 2020 report, an annual report compiled by the Copernicus Climate Change ...
/ Antarctic, Greenland, Ice sheets

Prof Andy Shepherd and Dr Tamsin Edwards Feature in the BBC One Documentary: Greta Thunberg – A Year to Change the World

CPOM Director Andy Shepherd (University of Leeds) and CPOM Associate Investigator Dr Tamsin Edwards (King’s College London) feature on BBC ...
/ Antarctic, Arctic, Sea level rise

Glaciers accelerate in the Getz region of West Antarctica

Article first published by University of Leeds Glaciers in West Antarctica are moving more quickly from land into the ocean, ...
/ Antarctic, Ice sheets, Sea level rise

Being a scientist-mum: a report for UN Women and Girls in Science Day

A year ago today I was standing at the University of Manitoba bus stop in -10°C with my colleague Robbie ...
/ Blog

CPOM research shows that global ice loss increases are at record rate

The rate at which ice is disappearing across the planet is speeding up, according to new CPOM research. The findings ...
/ Uncategorised

Dr Tamsin Edwards features on BBC4’s Royal Institution Christmas Lectures 2020

CPOM Associate Investigator Dr Tamsin Edwards (King's College London) featured on BBC4's “Planet Earth - A User's Guide” on 28th ...
/ Events,

Rosemary Willatt Awarded the Konrad Steffen Award

Last month Rosemary Willatt was awarded the Konrad Steffen Award at the ESA Polar Science Week conference, for the best ...
/ Sea ice

New place names to commemorate the 200th Anniversary of the discovery of Antarctica

The Government of the British Antarctic Territory has announced 28 new place names in the Territory today to commemorate the ...
/ Antarctic

Online Course: ‘EO from Space: The Cryosphere’

COMING SOON (early 2021) ESA has created a new online course, ‘EO from Space: The Cryosphere’, led by CPOM and ...

Beyond Boundaries: Realising the UN Sustainable Development Goals

UCL Grand Challenges and Global Engagement Office present: Beyond Boundaries Session 3: Sustainability & the Water Cycle Wednesday, 21 October ...
/ Events, Sea ice

Ice sheets could add 39 centimetres to sea level by 2100

Scientists warn that if greenhouse gas emissions continue apace, Greenland and Antarctica’s ice sheets could together contribute more than 39cm ...
/ Antarctic, Greenland, Ice sheets, Sea level rise

Sea level rise matches worst-case scenario

Research attention score: Article from University of Leeds: Ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica whose melting rates are rapidly increasing ...
/ Antarctic, Greenland, Ice sheets, Sea level rise

The earth has lost 28 trillion tonnes of ice in less than 30 years

A CPOM-led study, which shows that 28 trillion tonnes of ice have disappeared from the surface of the Earth since ...
/ Ice sheets, Sea ice

CPOM research on the impact of surface melting on radar penetration in Greenland

An article led by CPOM PhD researcher Inès Otosaka on 'Surface Melting Drives Fluctuations in Airborne Radar Penetration in West ...
/ Greenland, Ice sheets

Past evidence supports complete loss of Arctic sea-ice by 2035

A new study, published this week in the journal Nature Climate Change, supports predictions that the Arctic could be free of sea ice ...
/ Arctic, Sea ice

Atmospheric Blocking and Greenland Melt

CPOM researchers Victoria Lee and Tony Payne have co-authored, alongside Robin S. Smith (NCAS), an article on Atmospheric Blocking and ...
/ Ice sheets

CPOM research on the front page of Time magazine

Time magazine's special issue 'One Last Chance' released on the 20th July featured a stunning visualisation of climate change data ...
/ Ice sheets

CPOM researchers contribute to the newly released Copernicus European State of the Climate Report 2019

A comprehensive annual climate overview, on which CPOM researchers were co-authors, has been released by the Copernicus Climate Change Service ...
/ Ice sheets

Six-fold increase in polar ice losses since the 1990s

Greenland and Antarctica are losing ice faster than in the 1990s and are both tracking the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate ...

Greenland losing ice ‘faster than expected’

Research attention score: Greenland is losing ice faster than in the 1990s and is tracking the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate ...
/ CryoSat, Ice sheets

Celebrating satellites’ contribution to Polar science

Seven areas of fast-flowing ice on the Antarctic Peninsula have been formally named after Earth observation satellites, following a request ...

Nearly a quarter of West Antarctic ice is now unstable

In only 25 years, ocean melting has caused ice thinning to spread across West Antarctica so rapidly that 24% of ...
/ Antarctic, CryoSat, Ice caps, Ice sheets

CPOM’s Tom Slater wins 2019 Piers Sellers Prize

Tom Slater, a final year PhD student at CPOM Leeds, is being presented with the Piers Sellers prize for exceptional ...
/ Uncategorised

New satellite keeps watch on Antarctic ice loss

A recently-launched satellite mission is now proving a valuable addition to Antarctic monitoring efforts, according to work published this week ...
/ Antarctic, Ice sheets

Steps to make sea ice projections more robust

By David Schroeder, CPOM researcher, University of Reading Reproduced from the Weather and Climate @ Reading blog Climate model projections ...
/ Arctic, Sea ice

Rachel Tilling wins 2018 Women In Aerospace-Europe Young Professional Award

Congratulations to CPOM's Rachel Tilling who has just been announced as the 2018 Women in Aerospace-Europe Young Professional Award Winner! ...
/ Arctic, Sea ice

Arctic Prediction in a Changing Climate: Understanding Key Processes and Challenges

**Registration now open** This meeting is part of the Royal Meteorological Society Meetings programme, open to all, from expert to ...
/ Arctic, Ice sheets, Sea ice

Sentinels track Greenland’s summer speed-up

ESA’s Sentinel-1 mission has revealed exactly how fast Greenland’s glaciers are flowing into the Arctic Ocean. The research, published in ...
/ Arctic, Ice caps, Sentinel-1

Satellites track vanishing Antarctic ice

Monitoring Antarctica from space has revealed how its ice is being lost to the oceans, providing crucial insight into the ...
/ Antarctic, CryoSat, Sentinel-1

Antarctica ramps up sea level rise

Research attention score: Ice losses from Antarctica have increased global sea levels by 7.6 mm since 1992, with two fifths ...
/ Antarctic, Ice sheets, Sea level rise

CryoSat gives best 3D view of Antarctica yet

A new map of Antarctica, available to download from today, is providing the most accurate three-dimensional view of the continent ...
/ Antarctic, CryoSat, Ice sheets

CPOM helps school students become Earth Observation researchers

A new project launched by the Institute for Research in Schools (IRIS) is offering students the chance to contribute to ...
/ Antarctic, Arctic, CryoSat, Sentinel-1

Antarctica retreating across the sea floor

Antarctica’s great ice sheet is losing ground as it is eroded by warm ocean water circulating beneath its floating edge, ...
/ Antarctic, CryoSat

Space to Earth View challenges kids to aim high!

CPOM’s Anna Hogg has been inspiring schoolchildren to take their fitness to new heights and learn about space science at ...
/ Uncategorised

Fellowship in Satellite Altimetry

Are you an ambitious scientist looking for your next challenge? Do you want to further your career with CPOM? Do ...
/ Uncategorised

Take your fitness to new heights with the Space to Earth View Challenge!

Join CPOM's Anna Hogg and Paralympian Lauren Steadman in taking the Space to Earth View Challenge: Swim, bike or run ...
/ Uncategorised

First look at 2017 Arctic sea ice volume from CryoSat

A new paper in Advances in Space Research, led by Rachel Tilling, provides a first look at 2017 Arctic sea ...
/ Arctic, Sea ice

Pine Island Glacier and Ice Sheet Stability in West Antarctica

In May 2017 CPOM Leeds hosted the concluding meeting of NERC's Ice Sheet Stability Research Programme (iSTAR), an effort to improve ...
/ Antarctic, Ice sheets

Satellites reveal hidden ice canyons

CPOM's Noel Gourmelen explains how ESA's Sentinel-1 and CryoSat missions have shed light on the huge canyons hidden within the ...
/ Antarctic, Ice sheets

Update on the Larsen-C iceberg breakaway

The largest remaining ice shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula lost 10% of its area when an iceberg four times the ...
/ Antarctic, Sentinel-1

Giant iceberg in the making at Larsen-C

ESA satellites are monitoring a deep crack that continues to cut across the Larsen C ice shelf. When it eventually ...
/ Antarctic, CryoSat, Sentinel-1

New FutureLearn Course on Greenland Ice Sheet

Registration is now open for a new, free European Space Agency/FutureLearn course on how we observe and monitor the Greenland ...
/ Arctic, Ice sheets

Antarctic Peninsula ice more stable than thought

Glacier flow at the southern Antarctic Peninsula has increased since the 1990s, but a new study has found the change ...
/ Antarctic, Ice sheets

Sentinel-1 monitors growing crack in Larsen-C

Radar mission Sentinel-1 continues to monitor the growing crack in Antarctica’s Larsen-C ice shelf, which is expected to produce a ...
/ Antarctic, Ice sheets, Sentinel-1

Phytoplankton blooms under Arctic sea ice

In 2011, researchers observed a massive bloom of phytoplankton growing under Arctic sea ice - conditions that should have been far too ...
/ Arctic, Sea ice

CryoSat reveals Antarctica in 3D

Around 250 million measurements taken by ESA’s CryoSat mission over the last six years have been used to create a ...
/ Antarctic, CryoSat, Ice sheets

How low will it go? Scientists to use improved forecast system to predict Arctic ice melt

CPOM scientists at Reading University have been closely involved in developing a new, more accurate forecast system to predict whether ...
/ Arctic, Sea ice

PhD opportunity: Greenland/Antarctic ice sheet mass balance and regional variability in sea level rise

CPOM is seeking an excellent PhD candidate to work at the interface of climate and space science.   Using Earth ...
/ Antarctic, Arctic, Ice sheets, Uncategorised

Satellites track variations in retreat of West Antarctic glaciers

An almost 25-year long record of elevation change of some of Antarctica’s fastest flowing and receding glaciers reveals important differences ...
/ Antarctic, Ice sheets

Lowest early-winter sea ice growth on record

There is set to be only 10,500 cubic kilometres of sea ice in the Arctic this month – the joint ...
/ Arctic, CryoSat, Sea ice

CryoSat reveals recent Greenland ice loss

The most recent, detailed picture of ice loss from Greenland is presented in a new study, published online today in ...
/ Arctic, CryoSat, Ice sheets

ESA Advanced Cryosphere Training Course 2016

ESA is holding a new advanced Cryosphere Training Course devoted to training the next generation of Earth Observation (EO) scientists ...
/ Antarctic, Arctic, Uncategorised

Arctic sea ice shows resilience

CPOM scientists have found that Arctic sea ice volume increased markedly in the summer of 2013 compared to the previous ...
/ Arctic, CryoSat, Sea ice

Sea ice: a story of cracks

CPOM's Harry Heorton blogs about sea ice formation and dynamics and why it's important for global climate on the Reading ...
/ Arctic, Sea ice

Pine Island Glacier on Sentinel-1A’s radar

This image combining two scans by Sentinel-1A’s radar shows that parts of the Pine Island glacier flowed about 100 m ...
/ Antarctic, Ice sheets, Sentinel-1

Latest CPOM sea ice report

17 April 2015 Although Arctic sea ice set a record this year for its lowest ever winter extent, it was ...
/ Arctic, CryoSat, Sea ice

CryoSat beams down today’s Arctic sea ice

Having just celebrated its milestone fifth birthday, CryoSat has become the first mission to provide information on Arctic sea ice ...
/ Arctic, CryoSat, Sea ice

Arctic sea ice: a cool start to spring

CPOM's Danny Feltham describes the current state of the Arctic sea ice and explains the uncertainties on Reading University's Weather ...
/ Arctic, Sea ice

CryoSat extends its reach on the Arctic

CryoSat has delivered this year’s map of autumn sea-ice thickness in the Arctic, revealing a small decrease in ice volume ...
/ Arctic, CryoSat, Sea ice

Migrating ‘supraglacial’ lakes could trigger future Greenland ice loss

CPOM scientists have found that predictions of Greenland ice loss and its impact on rising sea levels may have been ...
/ Arctic, Ice sheets

Arctic ice cap slides into the ocean

Satellite images have revealed that a remote Arctic ice cap has thinned by more than 50 metres since 2012 – ...
/ Arctic, Ice caps