ice melt – UCI

UCI, NASA JPL researchers discover a cause of rapid ice melting in Greenland

Written on May 8, 2023.

While conducting a study of Petermann Glacier in northwest Greenland, researchers at the University of California, Irvine and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory uncovered a previously unseen way in which the ice and ocean interact. The glaciologists said their findings could mean that the climate community has been vastly underestimating the magnitude of future sea level rise caused by polar ice deterioration. Using satellite radar data from three European missions, the UCI/NASA team learned...

Canadian glaciers now major contributor to sea level change, UCI study shows

Written on February 14, 2017.

Nine times more ice is melting annually due to warmer temperatures Irvine, Calif., Feb. 14, 2017 — Ice loss from Canada’s Arctic glaciers has transformed them into a major contributor to sea level change, new research by University of California, Irvine glaciologists has found. From 2005 to 2015, surface melt off ice caps and glaciers of the Queen Elizabeth Islands grew by an astonishing 900 percent, from an average of three gigatons to 30 gigatons per year, according to results published...

Greenland’s fjords are far deeper than previously thought, and glaciers will melt faster, researchers find

Written on July 14, 2015.

West Greenland’s fjords are vastly deeper than rudimentary models have shown, allowing intruding ocean water to badly undercut glacier faces, which will raise sea levels around the world much faster than previously estimated, a UCI-led research team has found. Janet Wilson, UC Irvine West Greenland’s fjords are vastly deeper than rudimentary models have shown, allowing intruding ocean water to badly undercut glacier faces, which will raise sea levels around the world...

Measuring Earth’s Meltdown

Written on April 1, 2015.

An expedition to Greenland with UCI glaciologists reveals ‘time bomb’ effects of global warming Janet Wilson | UCI Magazine “Come quickly – look at the glacier!” urges UC Irvine researcher Isabella Velicogna, running to the bow of the Cape Race to gaze at the massive, crumbling face of Eqip Sermia. She’s stunned by what she sees. “So much is gone since a year ago. All that land over there was covered with ice last time.” It’s mid-August in Greenland’s North Atlantic fjords. UCI glaciologists...

Antarctica Melting From Below

Written on June 17, 2013.

Jennifer A. Kingson, The New York Times Early Antarctic explorers used all sorts of colorful words for icebergs — “growlers,” “bergy bits” — as well as the geological term “calved” for when a wall of ice would break noisily from the Antarctic coastline and start floating north. (Some wrote in their diaries that they could tell how recently an iceberg had calved by how degraded it looked). More recently, the calving of enormous icebergs, some the size of Delaware, has been blamed for the...

Warm Ocean Drives Most Antarctic Ice Shelf Loss, UC Irvine and Others Show

Written on June 13, 2013.

Findings are a game changer for future forecasts about thawing continent Janet Wilson, UC Irvine News Ocean waters melting the undersides of Antarctic ice shelves, not icebergs calving into the sea, are responsible for most of the continent’s ice loss, a study by UC Irvine and others has found. The first comprehensive survey of all Antarctic ice shelves discovered that basal melt, or ice dissolving from underneath, accounted for 55 percent of shelf loss from 2003 to 2008 – a rate much...

Frozen Flows

Written on April 29, 2013.

UCI research shows glaciers are moving faster than once thought. Brittany Hanson, Orange County Register Glaciers are fast – much faster than scientists previously thought – and their speeds are increasing, according to a UC Irvine research team mapping ice movement in Antarctica for NASA. “When they (speed up), it’s not a trickle,” said Eric Rignot, a UC Irvine professor of Earth System Science and lead project researcher. They increase in speed by three, or eight – sometimes...

NASA Awards ESS Professor Eric Rignot $2.6 Million to Continue Mapping Antarctic Ice Motion

Written on April 3, 2013.

Tatiana Arizaga, School of Physical Sciences Communications UC Irvine Earth system science professor Eric Rignot, along with associate project scientists Jeremie Mouginot and Bernd Scheuchl have been awarded $2.6 millionby NASA to continue mapping ice motion in Antarctica and to generate and distribute research data. “Our team is tremendously excited to be given by NASA the opportunity to continue our exploration of the Antarctic continent with satellite radar interferometry...

Antarctic Sea Ice Hits Record … High?

Written on October 13, 2012.

Does that mean Earth isn’t warming up? Daniel Stone, National Geographic News Despite frequent headlines about a warming planet, melting sea ice, and rising oceans, climate analysts pointed to a seeming bright spot this week: During Southern Hemisphere winters, sea ice in the Antarctic, the floating chunks of frozen ocean water, is actually increasing. In fact, in late September, satellite data indicated that Antarctica was surrounded by the greatest area of sea ice ever recorded...

Sudden Ice Melt Seen on 97% of Greenland

Written on July 25, 2012.

Pat Brennan, The Orange County Register Nearly the entire Greenland ice sheet experienced surface melting over just a few days in mid July, an extremely rare event that has not occurred since 1889, according to measurements reported by NASA scientists. And while the melting episode cannot be linked directly to global warming, it appears to fit into a dramatic trend: a long-term warming of the Arctic that is two to three times faster than the global average. “This is more like weather,”...

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