Arctic Ice Cap Slides into the Polar Ocean

An Arctic ice cap may be sliding into the ocean. Satellite images have revealed that the ice cap has thinned by more than 50 meters since 2012, which is about one sixth of its original thickness, and is now flowing 25 times faster.

The findings come after eight satellite missions conducted by satellites that ranged from Sentinel-1A to CryoSat. The scientists discovered that over the last two decades, ice loss from the southeast region of Austfonna, which is located in the Svalbard archipelago, has increased significantly. In fact, ice thinning has spread more than 50 kilometers inland.

"These results provide a clear example of just how quickly ice caps can evolve, and highlight the challenges associated with making projects of their future contribution to sea level rise," said Mal McMillan, the new study's lead author, in a news release. "New satellites, such as the Sentinal-1A and Cryosat missions, are essential for enabling us to systematically monitor ice caps and ice sheets, and to better understand these remote polar environments."

Melting ice caps and glaciers are responsible for about a third of recently global sea level rise. In this case, there's evidence that the surrounding ocean temperature has increased recently, which may have been the original trigger for the ice cap thinning.

"Whether or not the warmer ocean water and ice cap behavior are directly linked remains an unanswered question," said Andrew Shepherd, one of the researchers. "Feeding the results into existing ice flow models may help us to shed light on the cause, and also improve predictions of global ice loss and sea level rise in the future."

The findings are published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

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