Climate Fact: Ice Mass Update
Two of the biggest ice masses on Earth are the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, which together hold more than 90 percent of Earth’s ice. These ice sheets, particularly the Antarctic ice sheet, help to keep the planet cool by reflecting the sun’s energy. As the Earth begins to warm, the ice melts, which works to exacerbate warming as bare rock and soil absorb more solar energy than ice does. The melting of these ice sheets has accelerated in recent years. Greenland’s ice sheet lost about 137 gigatons (one gigaton is one billion tons) of ice each year during the 2002 and 2003 melt seasons and lost 286 gigatons each year between 2007 and 2009. This accounts for about 0.09 mm of the 3.1 mm annual rise in global sea level. Antarctica’s ice sheet lost about 104 gigatons each year between 2002 and 2006, while it lost 246 gigatons each year between 2006 and 2009. This accounts for about 0.08 mm of the annual rise in global sea level.
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Source: Velicogna, I. “Increasing rates of ice mass loss from the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets revealed by GRACE.” Geophysical Research Letters 36 (2009): L19503.
