Ice Watch: Glacier Survey Reveals How Glaciers Creep and Crawl

The feel on the floor of flowing ice, reminiscent of Heimdal Glacier in southern Greenland, permits Landsat eight to map practically all of the flowing ice on this planet.

Credit score: NASA/John Sonntag

SAN FRANCISCO — Although they look like frozen giants, glaciers and ice sheets can transfer and alter in surprising methods over time, in line with a brand new database that's now monitoring the motion of ice, together with the extent of its soften and gradual creep into the ocean.

With imagery and knowledge from Landsat eight, an Earth-monitoring satellite tv for pc, scientists at NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) are monitoring the pace of glaciers' motion and soften. These observations are in"close to actual time" and assist to raised predict how international sea ranges can be affected by local weather change, the researchers mentioned.

The so-called World Land Ice Velocity Extraction (GoLIVE) mission makes use of observations from Landsat eight, in addition to historic knowledge from older Landsat satellites. By evaluating knowledge from Landsat eight, which pictures the Earth's complete floor each 16 days, the GoLIVE staff can observe delicate modifications within the glacier, reminiscent of bumps and dunes, the researchers mentioned. Ted Scambos, a senior analysis scientist on the Nationwide Snow and Ice Knowledge Heart on the College of Colorado Boulder and the Colorado lead for the GoLIVE mission, mentioned Landsat eight may even seize modifications in a glacier's "pores and skin." [Photo Gallery: Life Inside a Glacier]

"Not solely can we map the glacier chunks the place there are massive crevices and high-contrast options, however [we can] additionally [map] the floor of the ice sheet even the place it is easy, down to those snow-dune options," Scambos mentioned right here Monday (Dec. 12) in a information briefing on the annual assembly of the American Geophysical Union. "By having the ability to observe with increased precision what the floor texture appears to be like like, we will truly map the flowing pores and skin of the ice sheet."

Such observations have been beforehand extraordinarily tough, if not unimaginable, for researchers to make. The primary time scientists studied a surging glacier intimately, they did so through annual discipline analysis, mentioned Mark Fahnestock, a professor within the Geophysical Institute on the College of Alaska Fairbanks. Scientists visited that glacier yearly for 15 years, placing down stakes throughout every go to. They then surveyed these stakes to find out any modifications within the glacier.

However these very massive, distant glacial programs in Alaska might expertise sped-up soften occasions for months with out scientists taking discover, Fahnestock mentioned.

"We have entered an period the place as an alternative of a pilot telling us a glacier is altering, or as an alternative of a discipline occasion recognizing a change in one of many 242 glaciers adopted, we are literally following on a month-by-month foundation with Landsat eight," Fahnestock mentioned. "We are actually watching all the outlet glaciers on Earth change in close to actual time."

Twila Moon, a analysis scientist on the College of Bristol in the UK, joked that somewhat than researching a number of glaciers over tons of of years, the GoLIVE mission permits for the research of tons of of glaciers over a number of years.

The mission might additionally "launch a thousand ships" when it comes to worldwide analysis into glaciers, Scambos mentioned. As a public database, the mission will enable for scientists world wide to conduct simpler discipline analysis, in line with the GoLIVE time, as a result of scientists can have higher "situational consciousness" of a given glacier earlier than researching it in particular person.

One different essential implication, Scambos mentioned, is that the info makes it clear that the glaciers are melting.

"By presenting the info in an easy-to-understand means, it makes it apparent what is going on on on this planet's eyes, and that the world is altering and that there is not any try to cover it in any respect," Scambos mentioned. "It makes it plain as day that we've a altering Earth."

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