The radars have been placed on the ice shelf surrounding Pine Island by University College London (UCL) and British Antarctic Survey (BAS) scientists to record changes of the Antarctic ice in unprecedented detail.
The ice shelves around Antarctica can be up to 1.2 miles thick, but preliminary trials show the new radar system can detect changes of as little as a millimetre – about the amount the Pine Island Glacier melts in just 30 minutes.
“Although we’ve previously taken snapshots of the ice with radar, this is the first time year-round monitoring has been possible,” said Dr Keith Nicholls of the British Antarctic Survey.
“Where changing ocean currents interact with the underside of the ice shelf, the rate of melting can change season by season, month by month, even over days or hours. The advantages of this new system cannot be overstated.”
The purpose-built radars were developed with funding...