from Live Now Fox, May 2, 2025
The Brief
- The Antarctic Ice Sheet gained mass between 2021 and 2023, a dramatic reversal from decades of loss.
- Four key glacier basins in East Antarctica showed significant growth due to increased snowfall.
- The mass gain briefly contributed to a decrease in global sea level rise, according to satellite data.
A surprising shift is underway at the bottom of the world. After decades of contributing to rising sea levels, Antarctica’s massive ice sheet has started growing again — at least for now.
A study published this week in Science China Earth Sciences finds that the Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) experienced a record-breaking mass gain between 2021 and 2023, largely due to anomalous increases in precipitation. The rebound is especially significant in East Antarctica, where four major glacier basins had previously shown signs of destabilization.
Satellite data shows ice sheet mass increase
Big picture view:
Researchers from Tongji University and other institutions analyzed satellite gravimetry data from the GRACE and GRACE-FO missions, which measure variations in Earth’s gravity to detect changes in ice mass.
They found that between 2011 and 2020, the AIS was losing ice at a rate of 142 gigatons per year. But between 2021 and 2023, the trend reversed, with the ice sheet gaining approximately 108 gigatons per year — a historic turnaround.
That growth was enough to temporarily offset global sea level rise by about 0.3 millimeters per year during the same period.
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