On Thin Ice

Until now, scientists have projected how all of Greenland would lose ice by extrapolating from the activity of just four large glaciers [labeled on map]. Csatho’s research shows that this analysis is not adequate: Changes at these four locations do not reflect what’s happening across the whole ice sheet.

An area this size houses 38 large glaciers that flow into the sea. In all, Greenland has 242 of these tongues of ice, and the study finds that they undergo complex patterns of thinning and thickening that current climate models fail to address.

Csatho’s team identified areas of rapid shrinkage in this region that current climate models miss. It’s one of several clues that indicate to Csatho that Greenland will shed ice more rapidly in the near future than previously thought.

The study used data from NASA satellite and aerial survey missions (see Laser Precision) to reconstruct how the ice sheet’s elevation changed at 100,000 locations from 1993 to 2012.

Gray Lines:  Paths traveled by NASA’s ICESat satellite to collect data
Purple Lines:  Paths traveled by NASA’s Operation IceBridge research aircrafts

NASA research vehicles used laser altimetry to measure the ice sheet’s elevation:

Step 1:  A plane (or satellite) fires a laser pulse.
Step 2:  The light hits a surface and is reflected back toward its source.
Step 3:  By measuring how long it takes for the laser pulse to reach the surface and return, scientists can calculate the elevation of the surface to an accuracy within centimeters.