Glacier Pulse

Stonebreen, a glacier in the Svalbard archipelago, has a unique 'heartbeat' due to its seasonal speed variations. The glacier's surface ice moves at an average speed that changes throughout the year, with slower speeds in winter and spring, and faster speeds in summer.

According to Chad Greene, a glaciologist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), summer speedups are caused by meltwater that percolates from the surface down to the base of the glacier. This increases water pressure at the base, allowing the glacier to slide more easily.

The data for the animation is from the ITS_LIVE project, developed at JPL, which uses an algorithm to detect glacier speed based on surface features visible in optical and radar satellite images.