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Here it is: the updated 𝗣𝗼𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗹.𝗱𝗸 – your gateway to 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹-𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗼𝗻 𝗔𝗿𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝘀𝗲𝗮 𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗻𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗜𝗰𝗲 𝗦𝗵𝗲𝗲𝘁.
The portal is powered by DMI, GEUS, DTU Space and DTU DTU Byg and supported by data from Asiaq and PROMICE.
The #PolarPortal seasonal report for 2024/2025 can now be downloaded. As always, in English, Danish and Greenlandic! See polarportal.dk/en/news/tran....
(Photo credit: @ruthmottram.bsky.social, DMI)
𝐈𝐌𝐏𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐓 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄: The access to SSMIS data from the US DMSP satellites is coming to an end. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝟑𝟎 𝐉𝐮𝐧𝐞 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓. We are working on the matter and try to find a replacement.
The onset of the melting season in Greenland is defined as the first of at least three days in a row with melting over more than 5% of the Greenland Ice Sheet. The median over the period 1981-2026 is on 27 May. This year, the melting onset was 9 days late, on 5 June, which is the fifth latest.
Accumulated surface mass balance (SMB) 1 Sep 2024 to 31 Aug 2025 was 403.8 Gt (=km³), close to the average 1980-2025. SMB is snowfall - runoff, i.e. always positive.
This is NOT the total mass balance TMB, which also includes iceberg calving and which shows ice loss for the 29th year in a row.
New #GRACE Greenland Ice Sheet mass loss data available on the Polar Portal! Since the launch of GRACE in 2002, the ice sheet has lost about 5200 gigatonnes of ice, equivalent to an ice cube with an edge length of 17.3 km. This has contributed 1.5 cm to global sea level rise. @dtucryo.bsky.social
The onset of the ablation season in Greenland is defined as the first of at least three days in a row with a surface mass balance below -1 km³ (= -1 gigaton). In 2025, this was on 15 June, 2 days later than the median 1981-2010.
Top: SMB, 17 June 2025
Bottom: sum of daily SMBs since 1 Sep 2024
PLEASE NOTE: Data source for sea ice concentration and extent has changed.
Beginning 1 July 2025, the Japanese AMSR2 is replacing the US SSMIS instrument for our sea ice concentration and extent products.
SSMIS and AMSR2 differ by ±0.1 million km² or less with larger differences in summer.
The onset of the melting season in Greenland is defined as the first of at least three days in a row with melting over more than 5% of the Greenland Ice Sheet. The median over the period 1981-2025 is on 26 May. This year, the melting onset was 12 days early, on 14 May, which is rank 11 of 45 years.
