Change in Antarctic ice shelf area from 2009 to 2019

Abstract 2) and West Antarctica (5563 km2) has been outweighed by area growth in East Antarctica (3532 km2) and the large Ross and Ronne–Filchner ice shelves (14 028 km2). The largest retreat was observed on the Larsen C Ice Shelf, where 5917 km2 of ice was lost during an individual calving event in 2017, and the largest area increase was observed on Ronne Ice Shelf in East Antarctica, where a gradual advance over the past decade (535 km2  yr- 1 2 area gain from 2009 to 2019. Overall, the Antarctic ice shelf area has grown by 5305 km2 since 2009, with 18 ice shelves retreating and 16 larger shelves growing in area. Our observations show that Antarctic ice shelves gained 661 Gt of ice mass over the past decade, whereas the steady-state approach would estimate substantial ice loss over the same period, demonstrating the importance of using time-variable calving flux observations to measure change.

Object Details

• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Extent: Online-Ressource
• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Change in Antarctic ice shelf area from 2009 to 2019 ; volume:17 ; number:5 ; year:2023 ; pages:2059-2072 ; extent:14 ; The Cryosphere ; 17, Heft 5 (2023), 2059-2072 (gesamt 14)

Contributors, Places and Time

• Creator: Andreasen, Julia R. ; Hogg, Anna E. ; Selley, Heather L.

Further information

• DOI: 10.5194/tc-17-2059-2023
• URN: urn:nbn:de:101:1-2023051804165512494103
• Rights: Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Last update: 14.08.2025, 10:46 AM CEST