Satellites Detect Seasonal Pulses in Earth’s Glaciers—And It Looks Like a Giant Heartbeat

Satellites Detect Seasonal Pulses in Earth’s Glaciers—And It Looks Like a Giant Heartbeat

Monthly satellite data from NASA shows the Malaspina Glacier in southeastern Alaska pulsing with seasonal motion, accelerating in spring as meltwater lubricates the base of the ice and slowing again by late summer. | Photo: NASA The Malaspina Glacier in southeastern Alaska is so massive that its ice spreads across the coastal plain like pancake batter—but new NASA analysis shows it behaves less like a frozen slab and more like a living, pulsing …