Ian Joughin
June 11, 2021
Edge of Pine Island Glacier’s ice shelf is ripping apart, causing key Antarctic glacier to gain speed
Satellite images show that from 2017 to 2020, Pine Island Glacier’s ice shelf lost about one-fifth of its area, mostly in three dramatic breaks. This caused the glacier to speed up by 12%, hastening its downward motion and boosting its contribution to rising seas.
May 12, 2014
West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapse is under way
The collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet has begun, according to computer models using detailed topographic maps. The fast-moving Thwaites Glacier will likely disappear in a matter of centuries, researchers say, raising sea level by nearly 2 feet.
February 3, 2014
Greenland’s fastest glacier sets new speed record
Observations of Jakobshavn Glacier from 2012 and 2013 show the fast-moving glacier has set new records for the speed of ice flowing toward the ocean.
November 29, 2012
International study provides more solid measure of shrinking in polar ice sheets
Climatologists have reconciled their measurements of ice loss in Antarctica and Greenland during the past two decades. A second article looks at how to monitor and understand accelerating losses from the planet’s two largest continental ice sheets.
May 3, 2012
Increasing speed of Greenland glaciers gives new insight for rising sea level
Changes in the speed that ice travels in more than 200 outlet glaciers indicates that Greenland’s contribution to rising sea level in the 21st century might be significantly less than the upper limits some scientists thought possible, a new study shows.
April 17, 2008
While stability far from assured, Greenland perhaps not headed down too slippery a slope
In a pair of companion papers in Science Express this week, scientists investigate the role of surface meltwater on accelerating the flow of the Greenland Ice Sheet and outlet glaciers and conclude that, while surface melt plays a substantial role in ice sheet dynamics, it may not produce large instabilities.
February 13, 2007
Glaciers not on simple, upward trend of melting
Two of Greenland’s largest glaciers shrank dramatically and dumped twice as much ice into the sea during a period of less than a year between 2004 and 2005.
March 23, 2006
Greenland’s glaciers pick up pace in surge toward the sea
With warming temperatures as the possible underlying cause, scientists wonder what is pushing Greenland’s glaciers out to sea as much as 50 percent quicker than before.
December 2, 2004
World’s fastest glacier doubles speed
The world’s fastest glacier, Greenland’s Jakobshavn Isbrae, doubled its speed between 1997 and 2003.
