ICESat-2 Land Ice Height Change (2020-2025)

At the whole ice sheet scale, this visualization shows the continued thinning of the major outlet glaciers in West Antarctica and in parts of East Antarctica between January 2020 and April 2025. Some areas show hints of blue, indicating places where the ice sheet surface has gone up, reflecting either increased snowfall or changes in ice dynamics.

In Greenland, ICESat-2 data shows the loss of ice around the margins of the ice sheet between January 2020 and April 2025. Note that the color scale in Greenland spans from a loss of 6 meters (20 feet) to a gain of 6 meters (20 feet), showing that the losses greatly outweigh the gains.

Along the Siple Coast of West Antarctica, the Mercer, Whillans, and Kamb ice streams feed into the larger floating Ross Ice Shelf. This visualization of ICESat-2 data products shows that ice is thickening in this sector, due to the long-term slowdown of these ice streams, while small subglacial lakes are evident in bright contrast to the larger scale changes.

Zooming into Antarctica’s Pine Island Glacier, this visualization of the ICESat-2 elevation data reinforces the well-studied loss of ice in this sector. Pine Island is one of the fastest-retreating glaciers in the continent, as relatively warm water melts the base of the ice where it meets the ocean.

ICESat-2 ground tracks converge at the 88 degrees north and south latitudes. In Antarctica, some of the most subtle elevation changes are in the ice sheet interior, near 88 degrees south latitude. By aggregating data through time, ICESat-2 can resolve elevation changes to a fraction of an inch.

A detailed view of coastal terrain in Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica shows height-change variability driven primarily by snow accumulation and compaction. The surface rises during periods of heavy snowfall, then sinks again as the fallen snow settles and compacts. The largest height changes are on eastern facing slopes that intercept the dominant storm tracks, in some places gaining as much as two meters during the ICESat-2 mission.

The ATL14 and 15 data products are also produced over the peripheral ice caps in the Arctic, such as these in Svalbard, Norway, and Russian islands. Here we see elevation losses of up to 20 meters between January 2020 and April 2025, visualizing the ongoing collapse of these smaller ice caps.