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Antarctic ice losses tracking high

Nature Climate Change volume 8, pages 1025–1026 (2018)Cite this article

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To the Editor — Satellite observations show that ice losses from Antarctica have accelerated over the past 25 years1. Since 1992, the continent has contributed 7.6 mm to global sea levels, with 40% of this occurring in the past 5 years. Glaciers draining West Antarctica have retreated, thinned and accelerated due to ocean-driven melting at their termini, and the collapse of ice shelves at the Antarctic Peninsula has led to reduced buttressing and increased ice discharge2. Of the 3.2 mm yr−1 sea-level rise (SLR) measured during the satellite era3, Antarctica has contributed 0.27 mm yr−1. The magnitude of SLR from Antarctica is the largest source of uncertainty in global sea-level projections, which are key to appropriate climate change policy.

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Fig. 1: Observed and predicted SLR due to Antarctica.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the UK Natural Environmental Research Council (grant number cpom300001) and the European Space Agency. T.S. is funded through the NERC Ice Sheet Stability (iSTAR) programme and NERC grant number NE/J005681/1.

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  1. Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling, School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK

    Thomas Slater & Andrew Shepherd

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  1. Thomas Slater
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  2. Andrew Shepherd
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Correspondence to Thomas Slater.

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Slater, T., Shepherd, A. Antarctic ice losses tracking high. Nature Clim Change 8, 1025–1026 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-018-0284-9

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