NASA’s GRACE and GRACE Follow-On satellites have been keeping track of the mass loss in the land ice sheets of Antarctica and Greenland since 2002. Data from these satellites reveal a consistent decline in the size of both ice sheets.
The GRACE mission ended in June 2017, and its successor, GRACE Follow-On, took over and has been collecting data ever since. The data collected by this mission is continually updated, with a two-month lag, and incorporates improved data-processing techniques.
This information is significant as the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica hold approximately two-thirds of all fresh water on the planet. The melting of these ice sheets is a result of the warming of Earth’s surface and oceans. The runoff from these ice sheets is responsible for about one-third of the average rise in sea level globally since 1993.
It is difficult to predict exactly when the ice will completely vanish, the rate of ice loss in Greenland has been accelerating in recent years, and current projections estimate that the ice sheet could contribute up to several meters of sea level rise by the end of this century. However, the exact timeline for the complete loss of ice in Greenland will depend on many factors, including the rate of global warming and the rate of ice melt.