About ESA
The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
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Space in Member States
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
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Science & Exploration
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
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Enabling & Support
Making space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
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Glaciers in decline
Apart from Antarctica, Patagonia is home to the biggest glaciers in the southern hemisphere, but some are retreating faster than anywhere else in the world. This is because the weather is relatively warm and these glaciers typically terminate in fjords and lakes, exacerbating surface melting and causing them to flow faster and lose ice as icebergs at their margins. Traditionally, it has been very difficult to map exactly how fast these glaciers are changing. However, a new way of processing ESA CryoSat swath data now makes it possible to map these glaciers in fine detail. CryoSat has revealed that between 2011 and 2017, there was widespread thinning, particularly in Patagonia’s more northern ice fields. The Jorge Montt glacier, which flows down to the ocean, retreated 2.5 km and lost about 2.2 Gt a year. In contrast, Pio XI, the largest glacier in South America, advanced and gained mass at a rate of about 0.67 Gt a year. However, over the six-year period, the glaciers overall lost mass at a rate of over 21 Gt a year. This loss is adding about 0.06 mm a year to sea level.
