East Antarctic Ice Sheet Appears to Be Melting Faster, Study Says

East Antarctica’s massive ice sheets, which scientists believed to be relatively unaffected by global warming, have been melting at an accelerating rate since 2002, according to a new study. Using a NASA satellite that can measure gravity and mass from space, researchers from the University of Texas estimated that East Antarctica lost an average of 57 billion metric tons of ice a year from 2002 to 2009, with the melt rate appearing to accelerate after 2006. The study, published in the journal Nature Geoscience, said most of the ice loss occurred in coastal regions such as Wilkes Land and Victoria Land. The West Antarctic Ice Sheet has been melting at a rapid rate for more than a decade because of rising air and ocean temperatures, losing roughly 100 billion metric tons of ice annually. Some scientists questioned the Texas findings, noting earlier estimates that the massive dome of ice in East Antarctica, more than two miles thick in places, was either losing little ice or gaining as much as 22 billion tons a year. If all of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet were to melt in coming centuries, global sea level could rise 16 feet. East Antarctica holds at least 10 times as much ice as West Antarctica, and large-scale melting in the east could trigger even greater sea level rise.