84 percent of polar ice loss came from faster flow, 11,309 billion tonnes
An IMBIE compilation in Scientific Data found the two ice sheets lost 11,309 ± 565 billion tonnes from 1979 to 2023 and added 3.14 centimetres to global mean sea level. Glacier discharge drove 84 percent of the loss. ESA, on the same dataset, gave 11 trillion tonnes, 1.81 centimetres from Greenland and 1.33 centimetres from Antarctica.
Science··Evening
Eleven thousand three hundred nine
The peer-reviewed Scientific Data paper published 16 September 2026 combines 42 independent satellite estimates of ice-sheet mass balance from 1972 for Greenland and 1979 for Antarctica through 2023. Between 1979 and 2023 the two ice sheets lost 11,309 ± 565 billion tonnes of ice and added 3.14 centimetres to global mean sea level. Glacier dynamical imbalance drove 84 percent of the loss and surface mass balance the remaining 16 percent. The comparison draws on 27 satellite missions.[1]
ESA briefing
ESA said a Scientific Data paper found Greenland and Antarctica have lost 11 trillion tonnes of ice since the 1970s, lifting global sea level by more than three centimetres. Greenland accounted for 1.81 centimetres and Antarctica 1.33 centimetres. 84 percent of the combined loss came from faster glacier discharge and 16 percent from surface melt. Inès Otosaka of Northumbria University led the study.[2]
Flow versus melt
The 84 percent flow share is the same in the paper and in the ESA briefing. 11,309 billion tonnes is the same order as ESA’s 11 trillion tonnes. 3.14 centimetres is in the paper; ESA said more than three centimetres. Ice-shelf thinning is excluded as a sea-level term. The paper records satellite observations through 2023, with no future projection attached.[1], [2]
