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Ice Sheets Today
Data images and analyses of polar ice sheet melt conditions
Melt Analyses
Our scientific data analysis articles for the Greenland Ice Sheet melt season are typically published from April 1 to November 1. Antarctic Ice Sheet melt season articles are published from November 1 to April 1. Select an article below to explore ice sheet melt conditions by month and year-to-date.
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![Figure 1b Figure 1b](/sites/default/files/styles/content_wwo_desktop/public/images/Other/GT_SummitRainAug2021_Fig2.png.webp?itok=bHKinJ6p)
Greenland
On August 14, 2021, rain was observed at the highest point on the Greenland Ice Sheet for several hours, and air temperatures remained above freezing for about nine hours.
![Figure 1 Figure 1](/sites/default/files/styles/content_wwo_desktop/public/images/Other/GT_Aug10_Fig1._Melt.png.webp?itok=MU2dkDJR)
Greenland
The Greenland Ice Sheet had two extensive melt events in the second half of July. The second melt event had the seventh-largest melt area and fourth-highest runoff in the satellite record, which began in 1978.
![Figure 3a Figure 3a](/sites/default/files/styles/content_wwo_desktop/public/images/Other/Fig3_SMB-June30-2020_2021.png.webp?itok=LEHwCNKI)
Greenland
Surface melt and total melt-day area for the Greenland Ice Sheet at the end of the 2021 spring season was below the 1981 to 2010 average.
![Figure 1a Figure 1a](/sites/default/files/styles/content_wwo_desktop/public/images/Other/AntToday_April2021_Figure1.png.webp?itok=y5LtZf2D)
Antarctica
With the exception of the northern and southern Antarctic Peninsula, the Antarctic melt season for 2020 to 2021 was unremarkable and below the 1990 to 2020 average.
![Figure 1b Figure 1b](/sites/default/files/styles/content_wwo_desktop/public/images/Other/AntToday_Figure2_Feb2021.png.webp?itok=V44cQ6am)
Antarctica
With a correction applied, a first look at the 2020 to 2021 season points to an intense melt season in the northernmost and southernmost Antarctic Peninsula, but generally below-average melting elsewhere on the continent.
![Figure 1 Figure 1](/sites/default/files/styles/content_wwo_desktop/public/images/Other/Figure-1_AT_01122021.png.webp?itok=ndd74Tth)
Antarctica
As the Southern Hemisphere enters into the full of swing of summer, parts of the Antarctic Ice Sheet are experiencing surface melting.
![Figure 6 Figure 6](/sites/default/files/styles/content_wwo_desktop/public/images/Other/Fig6.png.webp?itok=P3BaDL3p)
Greenland
The 2020 melt season in Greenland is over, finishing thirteenth for cumulative melt-day extent in the 42-year satellite record. Melt extent was greater than any year prior to 2002, with about 70 percent of the ice sheet experiencing some melting.
![Figure 4 Figure 4](/sites/default/files/styles/content_wwo_desktop/public/images/Other/Figure4.png.webp?itok=QgFKDfzm)
Greenland
Melting through the peak of Greenland’s summer melt season has been well above the 1981 to 2010 average, but below the levels of many previous summers of the past decade.
![Figure 5: Albedo maps Figure 5: Albedo maps](/sites/default/files/styles/content_wwo_desktop/public/images/Other/Figure-5.jpg.webp?itok=Kq5-ahNw)
Greenland
Spring melting over Greenland was near the long-term average, and concentrated along the southern coast, where extent was slightly above average.
![Figure 5: Snowfall maps Figure 5: Snowfall maps](/sites/default/files/styles/content_wwo_desktop/public/images/Other/Figure-3b_snowfall.png.webp?itok=cGDQvz8J)
Greenland
Low winter snow cover, springtime heat waves, and a sunny summer led to a large runoff of meltwater from the Greenland ice sheet in 2019, primarily from its western side.
![Figure 5b: Satellite image Figure 5b: Satellite image](/sites/default/files/styles/content_wwo_desktop/public/images/Other/Figure-6.png.webp?itok=eIxStUdU)
Greenland
Warm air from Europe's heat wave reached Greenland on July 29 and 30, setting temperature records at Summit Station and melting about 90 percent of the ice sheet surface from July 30 to August 3. Melt runoff was estimated at 55 billion tons during the interval.
![Figure 3: Maps and satellite image Figure 3: Maps and satellite image](/sites/default/files/styles/content_wwo_desktop/public/images/Other/GT_JuneMeltSpike_CSfig3.png.webp?itok=eQ7AjZ1G)
Greenland
Between June 11 and 20, an extensive area of the Greenland Ice Sheet surface melted. At its peak on June 12, thawing climbed from the western and eastern coasts to elevations above 3,000 meters (9,800 feet).
![Figure 3: Climate Reanalyzer screenshot Figure 3: Climate Reanalyzer screenshot](/sites/default/files/styles/content_wwo_desktop/public/images/Other/Fig3_ClimateReanalzer_12Apr.png.webp?itok=m8wabyg9)
Greenland
Surface melting on the Northern Hemisphere’s largest mass of ice began during the second week of April, with several significant melting episodes at the end of the month and into early May.
![Cumulative melt days graph (Greenland, 2018) Cumulative melt days graph (Greenland, 2018)](/sites/default/files/styles/content_wwo_desktop/public/images/Other/Figure2.png.webp?itok=zjdwYJ1a)
Greenland
Three major melt events during late July and August brought the 2018 Greenland melt season to a close. Overall, conditions on the ice sheet were slightly warmer than average for the second half of the summer.
![Air pressure anomaly for May and June 2018 Air pressure anomaly for May and June 2018](/sites/default/files/styles/content_wwo_desktop/public/images/Other/GrnToday_MaJu2018_Fig3.png.webp?itok=l--5JL1a)
Greenland
May and June were markedly cooler than the average, although total melt-day area for the ice sheet is near average as of early July. Winds from the south and high air pressure over Iceland caused a spike in melt area in early July.
![2017 Greenland melt season - cumulative melt days 2017 Greenland melt season - cumulative melt days](/sites/default/files/styles/content_wwo_desktop/public/images/Other/GrnToday2017review_Fig1.png.webp?itok=T9H9HKjX)
Greenland
In 2017, the cumulative daily melt area for the Greenland Ice Sheet was the smallest since 1996, yet still higher than any year between 1979 and 1994 (1995 was a high melt season).
![In this Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) true color image, remnants of Hurricane Irma pass over southeastern United States. Meanwhile, a warm air mass south of Greenland is causing surface air temperatures to rise. In this Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) true color image, remnants of Hurricane Irma pass over southeastern United States. Meanwhile, a warm air mass south of Greenland is causing surface air temperatures to rise.](/sites/default/files/styles/content_wwo_desktop/public/images/Other/hurricanes.png.webp?itok=5jDfabNJ)
Greenland
Surface melt spiked in mid-September in southern Greenland. A surge of warm air from the central Atlantic fueled the late melt event, which was confined to the southwestern and southeastern coasts and peaked on September 15, 2017.
![Images of fieldwork on Greenland ice sheet in August 2017 Images of fieldwork on Greenland ice sheet in August 2017](/sites/default/files/styles/content_wwo_desktop/public/images/Other/Fig4_FieldWork.png.webp?itok=eccQVXvU)
Greenland
Extensive and persistent melt in northern Greenland characterized late July to early August. A brief high pressure pattern centered on the west coast led to similar conditions that made 2015 a record melt year for the ice sheet's northern sections.
![Change in ice thickness maps created with a climate model simulating surface mass balance departure from average for Greenland as of June 27, 2017 Change in ice thickness maps created with a climate model simulating surface mass balance departure from average for Greenland as of June 27, 2017](/sites/default/files/styles/content_wwo_desktop/public/images/Other/Fig4ab_SMB_marXFettweis_adj.png.webp?itok=bYGODcM0)
Greenland
Despite moderately higher-than-average air temperatures and high air pressure over Greenland, the 2017 melt season began modestly. As of June 30, total melt area was the lowest since the 2009 melt season.
![The left plot shows air pressure anomaly (height anomaly of the 500 mbar pressure level, in meters) and the right plot shows air temperature anomaly (in degrees Celsius) for June, July, and August 2016 combined, relative to the 1981 to 2010 average. The left plot shows air pressure anomaly (height anomaly of the 500 mbar pressure level, in meters) and the right plot shows air temperature anomaly (in degrees Celsius) for June, July, and August 2016 combined, relative to the 1981 to 2010 average.](/sites/default/files/styles/content_wwo_desktop/public/images/Other/GrnToday_ASum2016_Fig2_new.png.webp?itok=Vp-v9j89)
Greenland
Melt extent in Greenland was above average in 2016, ranking tenth highest (tied with 2004) in the 38-year satellite record. Melt area in 2016 was slightly greater than in 2015, which ranked twelfth.