Die Antarktis hat im Laufe von 30 Jahren das Zehnfache der Größe des Großraums Los Angeles durch Eis verloren. Der Eisschild hat sich von der Aufsetzlinie mit einer durchschnittlichen Geschwindigkeit von 442 Quadratkilometern pro Jahr zurückgezogen.

**Antarctica has lost 10 times the size of Greater Los Angeles in ice over 30 years**

A comprehensive 30-year study led by University of California, Irvine glaciologists has produced a circumpolar ice grounding line migration map of Antarctica. An amalgamation of three decades of satellite data compiled and analyzed by the researchers revealed that while most of Antarctica remains remarkably stable, vulnerable sectors are losing grounded ice equivalent to the size of Greater Los Angeles every three years.

The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows that 77 percent of Antarctica’s coastline has experienced no grounding line migration since 1996. However, concentrated retreat in West Antarctica, the Antarctic Peninsula and portions of East Antarctica has resulted in a loss of 12,820 square kilometers (nearly 5,000 square miles) of grounded ice – akin to roughly 10 cities the size of Greater Los Angeles – over the 30-year period.

**The ice sheet has been retreating from the grounding line at an average rate of 442 square kilometers per year**. The most dramatic changes occurred in West Antarctica’s Amundsen Sea and Getz sectors, where glaciers retreated 10 to about 40 kilometers. Pine Island Glacier retreated 33 kilometers, Thwaites Glacier 26 kilometers, and Smith Glacier an extraordinary 42 kilometers.

For those interested, here’s the link to the peer reviewed journal article:

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2524380123