File:Amery Ice Shelf (MODIS).jpg

English: After winter’s 24-hour night wanes and summer brings long hours of daylight to Antarctica, the frigid territory becomes visible to satellite imagery. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image of East Antarctica’s Amery Ice Shelf on November 6, 2023. Gray border lines have been added to show the outlines of the ice shelf against the bright white snow and ice that surrounds it.

According to research published by Dr. Benjamin Davidson et. al. in the journal “Science Advances” in October 2023, 71 of the 162 ice shelves that edge Antarctica have reduced in volume between 1997 and 2021 (the 25 years looked at in the study). This has resulted in an estimated net loss of 7.5 trillion metric tons of meltwater into the ocean.

Most of the ice loss has occurred on the western side of Antarctica, while most of the ice shelves on the eastern side have stayed the same or increased in volume over the same 25-year period. This lopsided ice loss is due to water temperature and the currents that flow around Antarctica. The water is warmer on the western side of Antarctica, while a band of cold water protects most of the coast off of eastern Antarctica. The Amery Ice Shelf, which is surrounded by very cold water, was one of the shelves that gained the most, adding 1.2 trillion metric tons of ice in the study period.

The article can be viewed here.