What is Glaciers Today?
Glaciers Today offers a continuous record of the change in volume of the Earth's land ice since the launch of CryoSat-2 in 2010.
Glaciers Today is produced by Earthwave and the University of Edinburgh and is funded by ESA as part of the CryoTEMPO-EOLIS programme.
Why is it important to track land ice changes?
Together, the world's glaciers, the Antarctic and Greenland Ice Sheets contribute to 50 percent of the annual sea level rise and contain more than 99 percent of freshwater ice on Earth. If they completely melted, they would raise sea level by an estimated 67.8 metres.
Long-term satellite data indicate that ice loss is occurring globally and that the rate of loss is accelerating. Volume change results from a combination of the interaction of glaciers and ice sheets with the atmosphere and the ocean.
Additional Information About the Data on Display
The information on this page is based on analysis of CryoSat-2 swath altimetry data from the CryoTEMPO-EOLIS dataset. For more details on how the displayed data is generated, please refer to the Algorithm Theoretical Baseline Document.