Ice sheet evolution is the key unknown in future sea level projection. Numerical models are the best way to assess ice sheet response to future changes in ocean and atmosphere. Observations of recent ice sheet change play a critical role in improving the accuracy of these models. The current revolution in our ability to observe …
Antarctica InSync will host two global webinars on 20 & 21 January 2026 to present draft White Papers for scientific planning and invite feedback from the wider scientific community. These events are designed to foster dialogue across the international science community and disciplines as the White Papers progress toward final publication. Purpose of the …
A new article, published in Geophysical Research Letters and led by Sara Jensen from DTU Space, demonstrates how ocean currents and eddies in the Arctic can be resolved at unprecedented resolution using the French (CNES) and US (NASA) Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite. The underlying research, funded in the context of the ESA …
More than 100 participants from over 20 nations gathered at ESA’s ESRIN centre for the Antarctica InSync Science Planning Workshop, marking a major milestone in shaping the future of international Antarctic research. The four-day event centred on discussions around the seven priority science themes and seven cross-cutting groups, each contributing to the ambitious coordination of …
Background The Antarctica InSync Science Planning Workshop will be hosted by ESA at ESRIN, Frascati (Italy), from 3rd to 6th November 2025. Antarctica InSync is a globally coordinated scientific initiative established to address the pan-Antarctic scale of environmental change currently unfolding across the Antarctic continent and the Southern Ocean. The initiative is grounded in an …
Using over a decade of data from ESA’s CryoSat satellite, scientists have identified 85 previously unknown active subglacial lakes beneath Antarctica, bringing the total to 231. These lakes, hidden several kilometres below the surface, periodically fill and drain—movements detected through subtle ice surface height changes measured by CryoSat’s radar altimeter. The discovery also adds 12 …
5D Antarctica aims to produce a suite of state-of-the-art Earth Observation datasets to characterise how the coastal ice sheet and ice shelves in Antarctica have changed over the last decades, and to make use of these datasets to investigate the physical processes driving this evolution. This will provide the first integrated assessment of ice dynamic …
To accommodate participants across diverse time zones and ensure broad global engagement, the webinar will take place over two days, with each session offering the same core content. Join us for a dynamic two-day online workshop to advance the scientific planning of Antarctica InSync, an international initiative endorsed by the UN Ocean Decade. Aiming for …
A new study published in Nature Geoscience reports the first documented case of a subglacial lake draining explosively through Greenland’s ice sheet, blasting a roughly 2 km² area and cutting a 85 m‑deep crater in July-August 2014. The researchers estimate the event released about 90 billion litres of meltwater bursting upward through nearly 85–90 m of ice. The flood …
Using data from ESA’s SMOS satellite, scientists collaborating in the Southern Ocean Freshwater (SO Fresh) project have discovered a surprising reversal in the Southern Ocean: instead of becoming fresher as Antarctic sea ice melts, surface waters are growing saltier, particularly south of 50° S, with salinity rising even as ice cover rapidly retreats. This unexpected trend …
