West Antarctic Ice Loss Overestimated
New research shows that NASA satellites may have overestimated the amount of ice loss in the West Antarctic.
Scientists used a network of ground sensors to measure how much ice covering the area and therefore how much ice was melting and running off into the ocean. The results showed that the NASA satellite data may have overestimated that amount of ice being lost in the region.
NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) estimates ice loss by measuring regional gravitational forces as the satellite passes overhead. Both ice loss and bedrock rebound (where the bedrock lifts as the ice sheet above it disappears) will contribute to the satellite readings however it is now been found that rebound figures that have been used to calculate ice loss were wrong.
At the moment, it is unclear how much the overestimation is therefore it is currently unknown as to the rate at which ice loss in Antarctica is contributing to rising sea levels. There is no dispute that there is increasing ice loss however the actual figures have yet to be calculated.
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