25 years of observations have shown that a quarter of the glaciers of Western Antarctica are unstable

The researchers examined data collected between 1992 and 2017 by several generations of satellites, including

ERS-1, ERS-2, Envisat, and CryoSat, which use radar altimeters to measure the height of the ice sheet.

Then the researchers compared the data on the change in height from the ice cover of glaciers with the amount of snow that fell in the region during this time, and put the results in the RACMO climate model.

A wave of thinning ice sheets has spread rapidly across some of Antarctica's most vulnerable glaciers, and their losses are leading toto a gradual rise in the level of the world's oceans.

Andy Shepard, lead author of the study

It was previously reported that the melting of the largestthe Ross Ice Shelf Ice Shelf in Antarctica accelerated due to the heating of the surface layers of sea water in its vicinity. Until now, it was believed that the greatest contribution to the melting of glaciers makes warm water at great depths.