REUTERS — Between 2011 and 2014 Greenland shed 1 trillion tons of ice – that’s according to new data from the European Space Agency. The ice loss in those four years alone, corresponds to a 0.75 mm contribution to global sea-level rise each year – about twice the average of the preceding two decades.
The latest data was gathered using the space agency’s CryoSat satellite combined with a regional climate model to map changes in Greenland ice-sheet mass.
CryoSat carries a radar altimeter that can measure the surface height variation of ice in fine detail, allowing scientists to record changes in its volume with unprecedented accuracy.
According to the researchers, it is the most detailed picture to date of ice loss in Greenland.