The speed with which ice disappears on the planet is accelerating, according to research published Monday by The Cryosphere magazine.
The study, conducted by the University of Leeds (UK), also reveals that the Earth lost 28 billion tonnes of ice between 1994 and 2017, which is equivalent to a 100-meter-thick layer of ice that would cover the entire United Kingdom.
The data were published by a team of researchers, the first to perform an analysis of global ice loss using data from satellites.
The team found that the rate of ice loss on Earth has increased significantly over the past three decades.
Falling ice masses around the world raise sea levels, increase the risk of flooding in coastal communities and threaten to destroy the natural habitats on which wildlife depends.experts add.
The research, funded by the UK Environment Research Council, also included experts from the University of Edinburgh, University College London (UCL) and Earthwave data scientists.
Research shows that, overall, there was a 65% increase in the rate of ice loss during the survey over a 23-year period, mainly due to the loss of polar ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland.
Lead author Thomas Slater, a researcher at the Leeds Center for Polar Observation and Modeling, said that although each region analyzed lost ice, “ice sheet losses in Antarctica and Greenland are the fastest accelerating.”
This situation responds to “global warming scenarios”, and rising sea levels “will have very serious effects on coastal communities in this century,” he added.
Slater noted that the study was the first of its kind to examine all the ice that disappears on Earth, using satellite observations.
The study estimated 215,000 glaciers spread across the planet, the polar ice caps of Greenland and Antarctica, as well as the drifting sea ice.
Rising atmospheric temperatures have been the main driver of declining Arctic glaciers and mountain glaciers around the world, while rising ocean temperatures have increased the decline of the Antarctic ice sheet.
In the case of the Greenland ice sheet, ice losses were triggered by a combination of rising ocean and atmospheric temperatures.