Jakobshavn Isbrae ice flow

The Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission has revealed that, on average, Greenland’s glaciers are flowing more slowly into the Arctic Ocean. While the general flow has reduced in recent years, in the summer glaciers flow up to 25% faster than in the winter. Jakobshavn Isbrae, which is Greenland’s fastest flowing glacier, reached a peak of 17 km per year in 2013, the result of an unusually warm summer. But satellite data, in particular from Sentinel-1, show that, on average, it has actually slowed down by 10% since 2012. This is overlaid by a seasonal pattern, with the glacier accelerating by up to 14% over a three-month summer period before slowing down again in winter.