Houston Daily

A research collaboration between the University of Houston, the Italian Space Agency, and NASA has produced new data on Antarctica’s glaciers, providing detailed insight into their movement and potential impact on sea levels. The study offers the most precise mapping to date of grounding lines in Antarctica—locations where glaciers detach from bedrock and begin floating on ocean water.

The Italian Space Agency initiated this work about five years ago through its COSMO-SkyMed mission, which uses a constellation of four synthetic aperture radar satellites launched 17 years ago to observe Earth. After analyzing images collected by these satellites, researchers found that some Antarctic glaciers are retreating at rates up to 700 meters (about half a mile) per year.

Antarctica is one of only two places on Earth with continental ice sheets—the other being Greenland. These massive ice sheets have formed over thousands of years from compacted snow and now cover much of both landmasses. Scientists note that changes in glacier grounding lines can indicate increased flow of ice into the ocean, which contributes to rising sea levels.

“Continuous monitoring of Antarctic evolution is important to understand ice sheet dynamics, minimizing uncertainties in sea level rise projections, and develop strategies to mitigate the risks posed by rising sea level,” said Pietro Milillo, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Houston.

“This dataset provides the most detailed view yet of how Antarctica’s glaciers are interacting with the ocean. For the first time, we can monitor fast-flowing glaciers at a continental scale using high-frequency radar observations.” Milillo and colleagues published their findings in Scientific Data.

The research team manually mapped Antarctic grounding lines using Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (DInSAR) data—a technique valued for its ability to operate under all weather conditions and track rapid glacier movements. Between July 2020 and March 2022, they analyzed 794 images covering more than 74 glaciers across East Antarctica, West Antarctica, and the Antarctic Peninsula.

“Our collaboration with NASA and the University of Houston highlights how international cooperation can advance the frontiers of Earth observation,” said Luigi Dini from the Italian Space Agency. “The COSMO-SkyMed system’s radar technology gives scientists a powerful lens to observe Antarctica’s evolution in near real time.”

This new dataset addresses gaps left by earlier missions that struggled with mapping fast-moving glaciers. It is now freely available for use by scientists worldwide.

“By partnering with the Italian Space Agency and funding by NASA, we’ve made these data publicly available so scientists worldwide can better understand and model how Antarctic glaciers are evolving and contributing to sea-level rise,” said Milillo.