Ice sheets covering Greenland and Antarctica are melting three times faster today than they were in the 1990s, according to a ‘definitive’ study of satellite data. These pictures show the different ways that melting occurs | images: Ian Joughin
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A massive crack in the ice may herald an enormous rift in the ice of the Pine Island Glacier in western Antarctica.
Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Satellite images suggest that the glacier is poised to calve off an iceberg or icebergs that size of New York City. Sea ice has kept the unstable region locked in, but as this Oct. 26, 2012 Landsat 7 image reveals, the spring melt has cleared the sea in front of the glacier’s calving face.
Dazzling slide show of glaciers from various view points. That second one (fragments in muddy water) is great.
Chasing Ice | Horrifying—yet undeniably beautiful—photos of vanishing glaciers
Photographs by James Balog
Aerial view, meltwater on Greenland ice sheet
(Photo by James Balog)
Huge iceberg breaks away from Greenland glacier
Icebergs that break away from glaciers dump more ice into the ocean and contribute to rising global sea levels.
It’s no secret that the planet’s glaciers are melting. The Environmental Protection Agency reports that sea levels have risen from 6 to 8 inches in the past 100 years. Some experts estimate that sea levels will rise as much as 20 inches by the year 2100, which could wreck havoc on coastal cities.
NASA has been mapping deteriorating glaciers in the Antarctic through the Operation IceBridge program, called “the largest airborne campaign ever,” over the world’s polar regions.
How NASA is tracking Antarctica’s sea ice
Susitna Glacier, Alaska by NASA Goddard Photo and Video on Flickr.
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Greenland’s Icy June (by jetblasts2k)
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Ice and Fire By Ricardo Bevilaqua Perito Moreno Glacier, Argentina
Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska
Alaska’s smallest national park, Kenai Fjords contains one of the country’s largest ice fields. Harding Ice Field feeds 38 glaciers including Bear Glacier (above), which is the park’s largest, and Exit Glacier, the only one accessible by road. The area’s fjords are carved by the glaciers as they move downhill away from the ice field. (Click through for more).
