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.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
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Leverett Glacier in west Greenland about 50 km from the ice sheet margin taken on 19 August 2009. New findings show that there was a clear regional slowdown in the flow of land-terminating ice when surface meltwater rises. The reduced lubrication, caused by better meltwater drainage after summer, is suggested to be responsible for the slowdown. Scientists studied 30 years of Landsat data, provided through ESA’s Third Party Mission agreement and from the US Geological Survey, to track the movement of stable features such as crevasses in satellite images taken every year from 1985 to 2014. This allowed them to map annual ice speed and compare it with meltwater produced on the surface.