Warming seas and air temperatures have noticeably reduced annual sea ice over the last 40 years. They’re also driving losses in polar ice mass held in vast ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica. Unlike seasonal sea ice, which comes from and returns to the sea, the melting of these ice sheets and marine terminating glaciers is causing Earth’s sea levels to rise.
This animated map from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Scientific Visualization Studio (SVS) charts those losses since 2002. Using data from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) and GRACE Follow-On (GRACE-FO), it shows where and how much polar ice mass Earth has lost in the past few decades.
The map highlights changes in Greenland and Antarctica from April 2002 to November 2023. Over time, areas that lose ice mass darken into oranges and reds. Light blues show areas with modest gains in ice mass. A graph quantifies the changes in gigatons (1 gigaton = 1 billion tons) lost as time passes, letting you compare trends across the ice sheets.
Gray flowlines in the map help to show how these ice sheets are losing so much mass. Ice typically drains from the center of the sheets towards the coasts. Many of the coastal areas where these lines end are the same places where the most mass has been lost, reflecting the impact of warming seas.
By the end of the video, most of Greenland’s coastal areas show significant loss. In that time, Greenland has lost nearly 6,000 gigatons of ice. Antarctica fares better, with around 2,000 gigatons lost, mostly on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. You can even see that Antarctica has gained some ice mass in recent years.
The meltwater from this ice loss doesn’t just evaporate. It runs to the sea and raises sea levels. Scientists estimate that the combined losses shown in this map are raising seas by 0.12 millimeters per year. This contributes to the overall rise in sea levels that is happening at a total rate of 3.9 millimeters per year.
More to Explore
- Learn more about how scientists study ice sheets.
- Find out why scientists are concerned about the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.
- Watch an animation showing where in our oceans sea levels are changing.
