Hrvatski
One of the key components of the Earth’s system is the cryosphere. It includes frozen soils in Alaska, the snow on top of the Himalayas, and all the ice in the polar regions. The role of the cryosphere can be observed at high latitudes, on the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica that cover most of the land, and in places where marine ice sheets cover vast portions of polar waters. The vastness of that bright, white ice in addition to the huge areas covered by winter snow outside the polar regions helps control the global climate by reflecting some of the solar radiation back into space.
Due to the importance of the cryosphere, NASA is committed to extensive study of Earth’s ice and its changes. According to NASA’s research, between 2003 and 2019, the Greenland ice sheet lost an average of 200 gigatons of ice per year, and the Antarctic ice sheet about 118 gigatonnes. Combined ice losses have caused sea levels to rise by 14 millimeters in 16 years. These findings were gained through extensive data collection of the height, depth, thickness and flow of sea ice, glaciers and ice sheets, and the use of a space laser altimeter to make a detailed map to measure ice loss.
The melting of Greenlandic glaciers is significantly contributing to rising sea levels, which is a concern for coastal communities around the world. As part of NASA’s Oceans Melting Greenland mission, which explores glaciers by plane and ship, scientists wanted to better understand how ocean warming affects coastal glaciers. In 2020, they completed extensive research on the fjords and glaciers of Greenland, and their research showed that the warming of the ocean water in the fjords erodes the bottom of the glacier, causing the ice above it to break. They also concluded that larger glaciers are melting faster due to this undermining process.
Combining cryosphere expertise with field campaigns and an extensive fleet of operational and upcoming satellites, NASA and its partners can help communities around the world anticipate the effects of climate change and potentially mitigate natural hazards and disasters deeply associated with our planet’s cryosphere.
Read more about the importance of the cryosphere and NASA research at nasa.gov.
