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Pine Island Glacier
| Pine Island Glacier | |
|---|---|
 British Antarctic Survey field camp on PIG | |
  | |
| Type | Ice stream |
| Location | West Antarctic Ice Sheet, Antarctica |
| Coordinates | 75°10′S 100°0′W / 75.167°S 100.000°W[1] |
| Area | 175,000 km2 (68,000 sq mi) (whole catchment)[2] |
| Length | Approx. 250 km (160 mi)[2] |
| Thickness | Approx. 2 km (1.2 mi) |
| Terminus | Floating Ice shelf |
| Status | Accelerating |
Pine Island Glacier (PIG) is a large ice stream, and the fastest melting glacier in Antarctica. responsible for about 13% of Antarctica's ice loss.[3] The glacier flows west-northwest along the south side of the Hudson Mountains into Pine Island Bay, part of the Amundsen Sea. The area drained by Pine Island Glacier comprises about 10% of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.[4] Satellite measurements have shown that the Pine Island Glacier Basin has a greater net contribution of ice to the sea than any other ice drainage basin in the world and this has increased due to recent acceleration of the ice stream.[5][6] In recent years, the flow of the glacier has accelerated and the grounding line has retreated.[7]
Since 2015, the calving of very large icebergs from the Pine Island Glacier has become a roughly annual event.[8] The largest such iceberg, Iceberg B-46, had an initial size of 226 square kilometres (87 sq mi).[9]
The glacier is extremely remote, but scientists have surveyed the ice with radar, GPS, and seismic sensors.[10][11] Most of the data about the glacier has been gathered from aerial and satellite surveys.[2][6]
Like the neighboring Thwaites Glacier, the Pine Island Glacier is a target of proposed engineering interventions to reduce ice loss.[12]
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