New data from space is providing the most precise picture yet of Antarctica’s ice, where it is accumulating and disappearing most quickly, and how these changes could contribute to rising sea levels nyti.ms/3f5fAWO
The data, which appeared Thursday in a paper in the journal Science, was made possible by a new satellite that can see rifts and other small features of the ice surface of Antarctica nyti.ms/3f5fAWO 
Researchers have known for a long time that Antarctica is gaining more ice in some areas, like parts of East Antarctica, and losing it quickly in others, like in West Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula nyti.ms/3f5fAWO
The satellite will help scientists understand the largest driver of the ice loss on the west coast of Antarctica: the thinning of floating ice shelves that could allow more ice to flow from the interior to the ocean nyti.ms/3f5fAWO
Floating ice can be lost in different ways: by calving of icebergs, for instance, or through melting from underneath by currents of warmer water. When floating ice shelves thin, they can allow grounded ice to flow into the ocean, raising sea levels. nyti.ms/3f5fAWO
The satellite will help researchers measure the changes to the smallest ice-sheet features, giving them a better understanding of how changes are occurring and allowing them to improve their forecasts of future impacts as the climate continues to shift nyti.ms/3f5fAWO
