Irreplaceable loss: Greenland loses 2,347 km³ of ice in under 30 seconds (video).

Amid the climate crisis looming over the planet, scientists continue to warn about the consequences the world is already facing: unprecedented heatwaves and droughts, as well as the loss of Earth's ice caps. In a new alarming video, researchers showcased 13 years of melting from the Greenland Ice Sheet — in a 30-second clip, it is evident that Greenland is losing nearly 2,500 cubic kilometers of ice cover, as reported by Space.

The creators of the video note that it was produced using satellite images from NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) collected over the past 13 years. The footage reveals that the edges of the ice sheet are melting faster than the center — this is particularly noticeable in areas where glaciers meet the sea.

Results from a new study indicate that from 2010 to 2023, Greenland has lost a total of 2,347 cubic kilometers of ice. For comparison, this amount is sufficient to fill Lake Victoria — the largest lake in Africa.

Data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) suggest that the Greenland Ice Sheet has been experiencing continuous ice loss since 1998 and continues to do so today — in fact, it is considered the second largest contributor to rising sea levels after the thermal expansion of water due to warming.

It should be noted that the new research by scientists focused not only on quantifying ice loss. During the study, NASA and ESA combined data from satellites utilizing different technologies: ESA satellites employ radar to measure the Earth's surface height, while NASA uses laser measurements. Each of these methods has its advantages and disadvantages, and their integration allows for a more comprehensive understanding.

The findings indicate that the data collected by the CryoSat-2 and ICESat-2 satellites differed by no more than 3% in their assessments of changes in the height of the Greenland Ice Sheet. At the same time, the combined data from the satellites revealed that the Greenland Ice Sheet has thinned by an average of 1.2 meters over 13 years.

However, scientists caution that this average figure conceals significant variations across the ice sheet. Observations show that the edges of the ice sheet have lost an average of 6.4 meters, while the outlet glaciers experienced the greatest losses — with a maximum value reaching 75 meters at the Zachariae Isstrøm glacier. In the new video, the most substantial losses are depicted in dark red.

Since 2020, CryoSat-2 and ICESat-2 have been orbiting in the same paths: the joint efforts of the two agencies aim to ensure that the data collected by both satellites can be simultaneous and synchronized.

According to Thorsten Markus, a scientist on the ICESat-2 mission at NASA, he and his colleagues were pleased to see that data from "sister missions" provide a consistent picture of the changes occurring in Greenland.