Satellites show Earth lost more than 12 trillion tons of ice from Greenland, Antarctica in 47 years

Written and edited by the WorldPing NewsdeskPublished Updated Original reporting: Phys.org
Satellites show Earth lost more than 12 trillion tons of ice from Greenland, Antarctica in 47 yearsWorldPing
Image via Phys.org.

What happened

About 12.5 trillion tons (11.3 trillion metric tons) of ice from glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica have melted since 1979, which is enough frozen water to stack ice 5 feet (1.

Key facts

  • About 12.5 trillion tons (11.3 trillion metric tons) of ice from glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica have melted since 1979, which is enough frozen water to stack ice 5 feet (1.
  • Reported by Phys.org and published Sun, 20 Sep 2026 13:30:01 UTC.

Why it matters

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What to watch next

  • Peer review status and replication of the findings
  • Mission milestones and next scheduled attempt
  • Funding or policy decisions that follow

Coverage timeline

When each newsroom published on this story, oldest first — all times UTC.

  1. Ancient DNA reveals how plague kept returning for 400 years after the Black Death

  2. Scientists opened a sealed envelope after 10 years. Gravity still didn’t make sense

  3. Satellites show Earth lost more than 12 trillion tons of ice from Greenland, Antarctica in 47 years

  4. Venus ate its moon: How Earth's 'twin' could have swallowed a rocky satellite

Sources

The original report was published by Phys.org. WorldPing does not claim that reporting — this page summarises and contextualises it.

Read the full report at Phys.org

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