Leppard Glacier: thirty years of ice velocity change

Thirty years after the European Space Agency first demonstrated the power of flying two satellites in very close formation, the concept was recently recreated. By temporarily positioning two Copernicus Sentinel-1 radar satellites to replicate the pioneering ERS-1–ERS-2 ‘tandem mission’, ESA achieved one-day repeat imaging of the same Antarctic region. The results once again demonstrate how this approach can be used to measure glacier motion and pinpoint the critical grounding line with exceptional precision.

The graph shows an increase in ice-flow velocity along the central flow line of Evans Ice Stream between 1995 and 2026, derived from ERS and Sentinel-1 observations. The comparison reveals a substantial acceleration in ice flow over the past three decades, highlighting the long-term dynamic evolution of the ice stream.

Read full story: Satellites in tandem reveal 30 years of Antarctic ice flow