Earth  ID: 11841

Meltdown

The Greenland ice sheet—a behemoth body of ice composed of layers of 100,000-year-old compacted snow—is particularly vulnerable to climate change. If it were to completely melt, sea levels around the globe would rise by a staggering 25 feet. Recent analysis of NASA satellite, laser and radar data, which spanned nearly a decade, not only indicates that the ice sheet suffered an average loss of about 80 trillion gallons of ice per year between 2003 and 2012, but the resulting changes in ice thickness from region to region also varied each year. These findings suggest that the ice sheet is more complex and thinning more rapidly than previously thought. The implications are vast. Even slight increases in sea level could impact coastal habitats and force hundreds of millions of people to relocate due to the increased risk of flooding. Watch the video to learn more.
 

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Story Credits

Lead Visualizer/Animator:
Cindy Starr (Global Science and Technology, Inc.)

Visualizers/Animators:
Horace Mitchell (NASA/GSFC)
Greg Shirah (NASA/GSFC)

Video Editor:
Cindy Starr (Global Science and Technology, Inc.)

Narration:
Jefferson Beck (USRA)
Cindy Starr (Global Science and Technology, Inc.)

Narrator:
Jefferson Beck (USRA)

Producer:
Jefferson Beck (USRA)

Scientists:
Babonis Greg (University at Buffalo)
J. L. Bamber (School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, UK)
Beata Csatho (University at Buffalo)
J. A. Dowdeswell (University of Cambridge)
Ian Howat (Ohio State University)
R. T. W. L. Hurkmans (University of Bristol)
P. Gogineni (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Kansas)
J. A. Griggs (School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol)
Jeremie Mouginot (University of California, Irvine)
John Paden (University of Kansas)
S. Palmer (University of Cambridge)
Eric J. Rignot (NASA/JPL CalTech)
Tony Schenk (University at Buffalo)
Daniel Steinhage (Alfred Wegener Institute)
Michael Studinger (NASA/GSFC)

Lead Writer:
Julia Calderone (USRA)

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11841

Keywords:
SVS >> App
NASA Science >> Earth