Published on 4 March 2026
The ice along Antarctica’s ‘grounding lines’ has been largely stable over the past 30 years – but ice has retreated by more than 40 km in some areas, a new study based on satellite data finds.
Scientists studying Antarctica have gained new insights into how the world’s biggest ice sheet is reacting to warming sea temperatures. While the Antarctic Ice Sheet remained stable along more than three-quarters of its coastline over the past three decades, there are areas of significant ice retreat, sending a warning of future ice loss, according to the study based on data from several missions including Copernicus Sentinel-1.
The research, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), provides the most comprehensive record to date of changes in Antarctica’s ‘grounding lines’, the critical boundaries between ice resting on land and ice floating in the ocean. Grounding lines are highly sensitive to sea-level rise and are a key indicator of ice-sheet stability and ice mass loss.
Grounding lines and ice loss around Antarctica, 1992-2025
The study uses three decades of radar satellite observations to map changes in grounding lines around the Antarctic continent from 1992 to 2025. It found that grounding lines were stable along more than 77% of Antarctica’s coastline, including major ice shelves such as Ross, Filchner-Ronne and Amery.
While this does not sound like bad news, the research also detected significant retreat in vulnerable regions, particularly in West Antarctica, parts of East Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula. The largest detected grounding line retreat was observed along the coast of the Amundsen Sea, in West Antarctica, where the ice withdrew in some places by up to 42 km over the study’s period. The most affected regions were near the East Getz, Smith, Thwaites and Pine Island ice sheets. Overall, Antarctica lost approximately 12 800 sq km of grounded ice between 1996 and 2025, which is an area equivalent to almost half the size of Belgium.
Source:
European Space Agency. (2026, March 3). Antarctica retreat study signals future ice loss. ESA Observing the Earth. https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/Copernicus/Sentine…