Antarctica is a whole continent, located at the South Pole, with an area of
14,2 million km²
It is bigger than Europe,
which is about 10 million km²
and bigger than US and Mexico combined
which are about 11 million km²
Antarctica represents
90% of the ice in the world
Snow falls on the surface of the Antarctic Ice Sheet and compacts into ice. Over time, the ice flows towards the ocean, where it either melts or breaks off into icebergs.
The total variation of ice over a time period is called the mass balance.
A negative mass balance results from a decrease in the size of the ice sheet. The lost ice enters the ocean and contributes to global sea level rise.
Modern technologies and the increasing amount of data available from satellites, have allowed scientists at ESA to develop a ground-breaking tool to not only reproduce Antarctica, but also simulate the processes happening in it.
Welcome to Digital Twin Antarctica
The future of virtual exploration
Welcome to Digital Twin Antarctica
The future of virtual exploration
Due to extreme weather conditions, the first successful expedition to the centre of Antarctica (the South Pole) only took place in 1911, led by Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen.
Since 1961, the continent has been protected by the Antarctic Treaty, which has now been signed by 54 countries. It states that Antarctica is a land of scientific research which should be for peaceful purposes only, and the results should be freely available.
However, Antarctica is uninhabited, hard to access, and with extreme conditions, which poses extra difficulties for scientific research.
How can new technologies help us access such a remote area?
Earth observation from satellites has revolutionised the study of ice sheets, gathering data and allowing for remote analysis.
ESA’s CryoSat mission measuring the height of ice
Observations from space and ground give us a better understanding of Antarctica’s different components, such as: bed topography, ice surface elevation, snow properties, ice temperature and more.
Other datasets help us understand dynamic processes and describe the evolution of parameters over time and space.
For example, ice velocity displays how ice moves away from the centre of the ice sheet towards the coast due to its own weight. Particularly fast flowing ice is found in the floating ice shelves around the coastal margins
Geothermal heat, coming from below the bedrock, leads to melting of the bottom layer of the ice sheet in some places. This water flows in streams on the bedrock and forms subglacial lakes.
In Antarctica there are 675 detected subglacial lakes [3].
Satellite data can help monitor the activity of these lakes and networks by monitoring the elevation changes of the ice-sheet surface.
Digital Twin Antarctica (DTA) not only includes observed data, but also simulations developed by scientists.
Using satellite datasets, models are able to compute other parameters and understand how Antarctica works.
For example, a model was developed to understand how the volume and location of water melted from the bottom of the ice-sheet affects ocean water temperature.
DTA provides a digital interface to visualise processes and datasets. It allows the exploration of Antarctica from anywhere in the world.
DTA is a powerful tool for science with the final goal of supporting decision-making.
Integrating such a broad repository of datasets helps understanding a complex and interconnected system. It offers a new way to explore Antarctica from afar, creating a virtual lab for scientific research in Antarctica.
Data available in DTA is open access, following the mindset of the Antarctic Treaty, to support decision-making.
Changes in Antarctica have been identified as one of the major climate tipping points, as stated in the latest IPCC report [4].
What happens in a land that most will never see, brings global consequences.
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About
The production of this interactive story has been possible thanks to the efforts of the Digital Twin Antarctica team and Lobelia and under ESA funding in the context of the European project Edukeo.
Data used for visualisation has been provided by the DTA team, and consists of the following:
Surface Topography: from Reference Elevation Model of Antarctica (REMA).
Surface Elevation Change: from the CPOM Data Portal obtained using Cryosat-2.
Potential Sea Level Rise impacts on land: obtained by Lobelia using the Copernicus DEM.
Sea Ice Velocity: from ENVEO and produced as part of ESA’s 4DAntarctic project.
Basal Melt Rate: produced by the University of Edinburgh and Earthwave as part of the ESA Polar+ Ice Shelves.
Ocean Temperature: from ocean reanalysis product GLORYS with product ID GLOBAL_MULTIYEAR_PHY_001_030.
Subglacial lake locations: produced by the University of Edinburgh as part of the ESA 4DAntarctica project.
The visualisation of the satellite covering Antarctica, bed topography, subglacial lakes and drainage and Antarctica melting ice shelf has been provided by Planetary Visions.
Morlighem, Mathieu & Rignot, E. & Binder, Tobias & Blankenship, Donald & Drews, Reinhard & Eagles, Graeme & Eisen, Olaf & Ferraccioli, Fausto & Forsberg, René & Fretwell, Peter & Goel, Vikram & Greenbaum, Jamin & Gudmundsson, Gudmundur & Guo, Jingxue & Helm, Veit & Hofstede, Coen & Howat, Ian & Humbert, Angelika & Jokat, Wilfried & Young, Duncan. (2020). Deep glacial troughs and stabilizing ridges unveiled beneath the margins of the Antarctic ice sheet. Nature Geoscience. DOI: 10.1038/s41561-019-0510-8
Livingstone, S.J., Li, Y., Rutishauser, A. et al. Subglacial lakes and their changing role in a warming climate. Nat Rev Earth Environ 3, 106–124 (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s43017-021-00246-9
Hoegh-Guldberg, O. et al., Impacts of 1.5ºC Global Warming on Natural and Human Systems. In: Global Warming of 1.5°C. An IPCC Special Report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty [Masson-Delmotte, V. et al. (eds.)] (2018). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK and New York, NY, USA, pp. 175-312, DOI: 10.1017/9781009157940.005
