Satellite data reveal how colorful algae are melting the Greenland ice sheet.
Remote sensing
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Subglacial Water Can Accelerate East Antarctic Glacier Flow
Airborne radar from the Recovery Glacier system demonstrates the importance of characterizing the underlying causes of ice flow speedup to understand how glacial discharge could change in the future.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Extending the Record of Surface Melt on the Larsen C Ice Shelf
The first use of Advanced Scatterometer radar data to determine melt duration on an Antarctic ice shelf shows the season has decreased by up to 2 days per year during the extended 21st century record.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Humming Ice Shelf Changes Its Seismic Tune with the Weather
Seismic waves resonating within the upper layers of the Ross ice shelf could help scientists monitor the Antarctic melt season and understand factors that could lead to sudden ice shelf collapse.
Posted inScience Updates
Remote Sensing Leads to Better Understanding of Polar Regions
Fifteenth International Circumpolar Remote Sensing Symposium; Potsdam, Germany, 10–14 September 2018
Posted inScience Updates
How Can We Find Out How Much Snow Is in the World?
In Colorado forests, NASA scientists and a multinational team of researchers test the limits of satellite remote sensing for measuring the water content of snow.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
A Novel Way to Map Debris Thickness on Himalayan Glaciers
By combining changes in elevation with other data, scientists have developed a method for estimating the thickness of debris covering glaciers on whose water more than 800 million people depend.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Reducing Errors in Satellite-Derived Arctic Sea Ice Thicknesses
Salty snow throws off satellite-based estimates of Arctic sea ice thickness by up to 25%. A new method seeks to fix that.
Posted inNews
Ice Caves atop a Volcano Give Taste of Otherworldly Science
Researchers brave perils and tumbling trash to probe glacial caves on Mount Rainier, improving their understanding of its extraordinary environment and helping to advance space exploration.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
On-the-Ground Measurements Overestimate Earth’s Albedo
Weather stations can be used to calibrate and validate albedo measurements from satellites, but they fail to account for variability across landscapes, overestimating how reflective our planet is.