Antarctica’s Astonishing Rebound: Ice Sheet Grows for the First Time in Decades
By Science China PressApril 29, 2025
Melting Ice Climate Change
The Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) has historically lost mass, significantly contributing to sea-level rise, with intensified losses in West Antarctica and parts of East Antarctica, particularly from 2011–2020. However, between 2021 and 2023, driven by anomalous precipitation, the AIS experienced a record-breaking mass gain, even reversing trends in critical glacier basins like Totten, Moscow, Denman, and Vincennes Bay.
Mass changes across the Antarctic ice sheet have been detected using satellite gravimetry, revealing significant instabilities in major glacier basins of East Antarctica as well as across the entire ice sheet.
The Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) plays a major role in global sea-level rise. Since March 2002, the GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) mission and its successor, GRACE-FO (GRACE Follow-On), have provided valuable data to monitor changes in ice mass across the AIS.
Previous studies have consistently shown a long-term trend of mass loss, particularly in West Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula, while glaciers in East Antarctica appeared relatively stable. However, a recent study led by Dr. Wang and Prof. Shen at Tongji University has found a surprising shift: between 2021 and 2023, the AIS experienced a record-breaking increase in overall mass.
Antarctic Ice Sheet’s Mass Drama,From Accelerated Loss to Surprising Gain
Antarctic Ice Sheet mass change series (April 2002–December 2023) derived from GRACE/GRACE-FO satellite gravimetry. Ellipses highlight period-specific mass change rates, while the grey shadow indicates the data gap between missions. Credit: Science China Press
Notably, four major glaciers in the Wilkes Land–Queen Mary Land region of East Antarctica reversed their previous pattern of accelerated mass loss from 2011 to 2020 and instead showed significant mass gain during the 2021 to 2023 period.
https://scitechdaily.com/antarcticas-astonishing-rebound-ice-sheet-grows-for-the-first-time-in-decades/
