Thirty years of glacier grounding line retreat in Antarctica

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Rignot, Eric; Scheuchl, Bernd; Barre, Jean Baptiste; Brancato, Virginia; Charrier, Laurane; Chen, Hanning; Ciraci, Enrico; Dinh, Andy; Herreid, Sam; Jeong, Seongsu; Li, Xin; Mitchell, Thomas; Mohajerani, Yara; Shamsian, Sina; Tolpekin, Valentyn; Velicogna, Isabella; Wollersheim, Michael
• 署名单位: University of California System; University of California Irvine; California Institute of Technology; National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA); NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL); University of California System; University of California Irvine; Communaute Universite Grenoble Alpes; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS); Universite Grenoble Alpes (UGA); University of Washington; University of Washington Seattle
• 刊物名称: PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0027-8424; 1091-6490
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2524380123
• 发表日期: 2026-03-10
• 页码: e2524380123
• 关键词: GLACIER; antarctica; Remote sensing; sea level; interferometry; ice shelf; east antarctica; pine island; west antarctica; mass-loss; ocean; elevation; REPRESENTATION; circulation; DYNAMICS

摘要

The Grounding Line (GL)-the transition from ice grounded on the continent and ice afloat in the ocean-is a sensitive indicator of glacier stability and mass balance. Using differential synthetic aperture radar interferometry from ERS-1/2, Sentinel-1, RADARSAT-1/2, RADARSAT Constellation Mission, ALOS PALSAR-2, COSMO-SkyMed, and ICEYE, we assemble a continental scale record of grounding line migration from 1992 to 2025. Over 77 +/- 10% of Antarctic coastal length, we detect no GL migration. Retreat is concentrated in i) the Antarctic Peninsula-2 to 18 km along Larsen A-B and 2 to 6 km along parts of George VI; ii) Wilkes and George V lands-6 to 10 km on Denman, Totten, Moscow, Frost, Holmes, Mertz, Ninnis, and Cook, and 26 km on Vanderford; and iii) West Antarctica-5 to 7-km on Ferrigno, Fox, and Venable, with extreme retreat in the Amundsen and Getz sectors (Pine Island 33 km, Thwaites 26 km, Haynes 20 km, Pope 23 km, Smith 42 km, Kohler 12 km, East Getz 9 km toward Berry 18 km, Hull 14 km, and Land 5 km). The ice sheet lost 12,820 +/- 1,873 km2 of grounded ice in 1996-2025, or 442 +/- 64 km2/y, with 62% from West Antarctica and 28% from East Antarctica. Retreat clusters in areas where bathymetry channelizes warm Circumpolar Deep Water toward deep grounding zones where beds are retrograde, except in the northeastern Antarctic Peninsula. The results provide a harmonized benchmark for ice grounding zone-based ice sheet models and identifies gateways where future retreat is likely to accelerate.