Gepubliceerd op 17 november 2021
According to scientists at the Danish Meteorological Institute, these two episodes contributed to 2021 being the 25th consecutive year in which the ice sheet lost more ice than it gained. Scientists also estimate that, from 1 September 1986 to 31 August 2021, the Greenland ice sheet lost around 5,500 giga tonnes of ice. Further, it is estimated that this loss contributed to a sea level rise of about 1.5 cm.
This image, acquired by one of the Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellites on 7 November 2021, shows the Russell Glacier, one of the glaciers most studied by researchers to understand the connection between the melting of the ice sheet and rising sea levels.
Open data from Copernicus Services and Sentinel satellites enable scientists to study the ice sheets in the polar regions.