<div class="" data-article-body="true"><p class="mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words"><span class="dropcap">Y</span>ou’re looking at one of the quickest moving glaciers in the world—the bright hues added to this satellite image of Jakobshavn Glacier in Greenland represent the average speed of ice movement between 2014 and 2024. Ice was observed to travel up to about 160 feet per day, or around the width of a football field, <a href="https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/Copernicus/Sentinel-1/Sentinel-1_s_decade_of_essential_data_over_shifting_ice_sheets" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:according to;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas" class="link ">according to</a> the European Space Agency (ESA), whose Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellites recorded these trends. There could be a few reasons why: For one, the floating edge that once met the seafloor may <a href="https://ocean.si.edu/ecosystems/poles/close-and-personal-fastest-glacier-world" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:have melted;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas" class="link ">have melted</a> enough to no longer serve as a “doorstop” to slow down the glacier’s movement.</p><p class="mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words">These findings came from the first continuous, high-resolution survey of ice-flow speeds across the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets. This information is vital in keeping tabs on the break-up of ice sheets and gauging how the world’s seas will rise in the coming decades. We already know that the Arctic is <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-022-00498-3" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:heating up quicker;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas" class="link ">heating up quicker</a> than the rest of the globe, and that Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are melting <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/jpl/greenland-antarctica-melting-six-times-faster-than-in-the-1990s/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:six times faster;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas" class="link ">six times faster</a> than in the 1990s.</p><figure class="relative mb-4"><div class="relative"><img alt="&lt;strong&gt;NOT-SO GLACIAL SPEED: &lt;/strong&gt;This map tracks the average velocity of ice traveling across the Antarctic ice sheet between 2014 and 2024.&lt;em&gt; Image by ESA (Data source: Wuite, J. et al. 2025).&lt;/em&gt;" loading="lazy" width="960" height="960" decoding="async" data-nimg="1" class="rounded-lg" style="color:transparent" src="https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/AMTS3RAQljuDryDSzro8VA--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTk2MDtjZj13ZWJw/https://media.zenfs.com/en/nautilus_articles_455/a2e3d982a7e24395fa8c27cb8405f7e3"><button aria-label="View larger image" class="group absolute bottom-0 size-full" data-ylk="elm:expand;itc:1;sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;"><span class="absolute bottom-3 right-3 rounded-full bg-white p-3 opacity-100 shadow-elevation-3 transition-opacity duration-300 group-hover:block group-hover:opacity-100 md:p-[17px] lg:bottom-6 lg:right-6 lg:bg-white/90 lg:p-5 lg:opacity-0 lg:shadow-none"><svg viewbox="0 0 22 22" aria-hidden="true" class="size-4 lg:size-6" width="22" height="22"><path d="M12.372.92c0-.506.41-.916.915-.916L21 0l-.004 7.712a.917.917 0 0 1-1.832 0V3.183l-6.827 6.828-1.349-1.348 6.828-6.828h-4.529a.915.915 0 0 1-.915-.915M1.835 17.816l6.828-6.828 1.349 1.349-6.829 6.827h4.529a.915.915 0 0 1 0 1.831L0 21l.004-7.713a.916.916 0 0 1 1.831 0z"></path></svg></span></button><dialog aria-label="Modal Dialog" aria-modal="true" class="fixed bottom-0 left-0 right-0 top-0 z-4 size-full max-h-none max-w-none bg-white hidden"></dialog></div><figcaption class="relative text-sm mt-1 pr-2.5"><div style="max-height:none;overflow:visible"><strong>NOT-SO GLACIAL SPEED: </strong>This map tracks the average velocity of ice traveling across the Antarctic ice sheet between 2014 and 2024.<em> Image by ESA (Data source: Wuite, J. et al. 2025).</em></div></figcaption></figure><p class="mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words">Before this recent ESA mission, satellites had only taken snapshots of a few glaciers in Antarctica and Greenland or collected infrequent data. Some teams have examined glaciers over time with optical imagery from satellites, which captures what’s visible to the naked eye. But this limits monitoring to the daytime, and clouds or smoke can block the satellite’s view.</p><p class="mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words">A technology called synthetic aperture radar (SAR) clears these hurdles by beaming out energy pulses and measuring the amount of energy reflected back from these glaciers. Between 2014 and 2024, an instrument on Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellites collected SAR data to trace the ice’s travels.</p><p class="mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words"><strong>Read more: “<a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/hidden-landscape-holding-back-sea-095000826.html" data-ylk="slk:The Hidden Landscape Holding Back the Sea;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;outcm:mb_qualified_link;_E:mb_qualified_link;ct:story;" class="link  yahoo-link">The Hidden Landscape Holding Back the Sea</a>”</strong></p><p class="mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words">The vibrant visualizations of the ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica were created by a team from ENVEO IT, an engineering company based in Austria. They applied specialized algorithms to the SAR measurements, according to a <em>Remote Sensing of Environment </em><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0034425725004961" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:paper;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas" class="link ">paper</a>, generating maps that display average ice speeds over the decade-long satellite survey period.</p><p class="mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words">“Before the launch of Sentinel-1, the absence of consistent SAR observations over polar glaciers and ice sheets posed a major barrier to long-term climate records,” explained study co-author Jan Wuite of ENVEO IT in a <a href="https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/Copernicus/Sentinel-1/Sentinel-1_s_decade_of_essential_data_over_shifting_ice_sheets" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:statement;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas" class="link ">statement</a>. “Today, the resulting velocity maps offer an extraordinary view of ice-sheet dynamics, providing a reliable and essential data record for understanding polar regions in a rapidly changing global climate.”</p><p class="mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words">In the future, ESA will continue to keep an eye on the speed of these ice sheets from space thanks to the ROSE-L satellite mission that’s <a href="https://sentiwiki.copernicus.eu/web/rose-l" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:slated to launch;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas" class="link ">slated to launch</a> in 2028. ROSE-L will harness a similar SAR instrument to track the flow of ice, offering a detailed look into what the warming future holds.</p><p class="mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words"><em>Enjoying  </em><a href="https://nautil.us/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:Nautilus;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas" class="link ">Nautilus</a><em>? Subscribe to our free </em><a href="https://nautil.us/newsletter/?_sp=c43011db-6fcf-42f2-a38c-e033b87a4a1d.1759265717430" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:newsletter;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas" class="link "><em>newsletter</em></a>.</p><p class="mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words">This story was originally featured on <a href="https://nautil.us/watch-this-glacier-race-into-the-sea-1261807/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" data-ylk="slk:Nautilus;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas" class="link ">Nautilus</a>.</p></div>

High-tech radar technology offers an unprecedented look at escaping ice speeds on Greenland and Antarctica

Watch This Glacier Race into the Sea

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