Antarctic glaciers to honour ‘satellite heroes’
A series of glaciers in the Antarctic are being named after the satellites that have revealed the changing state of the White Continent.
The spacecraft, from Europe, the US and Japan, have all contributed important observational data which confirms a picture of accelerating ice loss.
They include the pioneering American Landsat series of satellites and Europe’s new Sentinel fleet.
Their namesake glaciers run parallel to each other in Palmer Land.
This is a sector on the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula.
It’s an area studied by Dr Anna Hogg, who was frustrated that the glaciers she was looking at were known only by their coordinates on a map.