Three polynyas—circular areas free of sea ice—provide tantalizing clues as to why Antarctica’s Pine Island Glacier is melting at an astonishing 100 meters per year.
Published Nov 18, 2011
The Pine Island Glacier has been the focus of scientific attention for many years. Large numbers of deep crevasses are a sign that parts of the glacier are moving rapidly.
Published Jan 11, 2008
Calving that used to happen about every six years has become a near-annual event.
Published Nov 8, 2018Image of the Day Snow and Ice Remote Sensing Sea and Lake Ice
As this Antarctic glacier sheds huge icebergs more frequently, scientists are closely monitoring the retreat.
Published May 13, 2019
In a routine survey of Antarctica’s Pine Island Glacier, NASA scientists discovered a large crack in the ice which will soon lead to the birth of a new giant iceberg.
Published Nov 3, 2011
Scientists are concerned about the stability of a glacier that could significantly raise sea level.
Published May 13, 2020Image of the Day Heat Land Water Snow and Ice Remote Sensing
Thermal infrared imagery spots the cracks and a new ice island through the dark of the Antarctic winter night.
Published Jul 28, 2013
Pine Island Glacier has shed another block of ice into Antarctic waters.
Published Feb 15, 2017
Researchers working on Operation Icebridge captured fresh photos and data from the ice on the bottom of the world.
Published Nov 10, 2012
The 185-square-kilometer hunk of ice is afloat in the Amundsen Sea, off the coast of West Antarctica.
Published Oct 3, 2017
Scientists merged photographs and laser altimetry data to create a virtual journey through the crack in Antarctica's Pine Island Glacier.
Published Feb 29, 2012
The rift in the glacier is now completely open, and a large iceberg is moving out into Pine Island Bay.
Published Nov 14, 2013
The amount of ice flowing from the Antarctic glacier has doubled in the span of three decades, and scientists think it could undergo even more dramatic changes in the near future.
Published Feb 6, 2020
As spring clears out sea ice from Pine Island Bay, the birth of a massive new iceberg may be more likely.
Published Nov 24, 2012
When this closely watched slab of floating ice births a giant iceberg, it will not be the first time it has seen dramatic change.
Published Feb 7, 2017Image of the Day Heat Land Water Snow and Ice Sea and Lake Ice
Researchers from NASA and the University of California, Irvine (UCI) have gained an unprecedented view of ice melting on the floating undersides of glaciers. In the process, they detected the fastest ongoing rates of glacier retreat ever observed in West Antarctica.
Published Oct 30, 2016
Parts of this fast-melting ice shelf in West Antarctica were mapped and measured during an Operation IceBridge science flight.
Published Nov 10, 2016
In August 2010, a NASA satellite tracked the chunk of ice as it slowly migrated down the fjord.
Published Aug 22, 2010
Where once two streams of ice merged in Greenland’s Jakobshavn Glacier, today there is division and a complex surface riddled with crevasses and melt ponds.
Published Dec 3, 2011
