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University of Exeter glaciologist Martin Siegert, who was also not involved in the study, told Salon that the study confirms what experts like himself have long predicted — namely, that Antarctica will see an increase in plants on exposed surfaces as it loses ice due to climate change.

A message in a bottle, buried 54 years ago under a rock cairn in a remote Arctic valley on Canada’s northernmost island, could well be the last written words from a promising young glaciologist and explorer from Pasadena.

The camera roll on his phone is brimming with videos and photos of his trips to Antarctica, where the glaciologist and climate scientist has spent days and weeks at a time collecting ice core samples.

In the new study, led by glaciologist Eric Rignot of the University of California, Irvine, scientists turned to satellites and a technique called radar interferometry, which can detect millimeter-size changes in surface elevation.

That distinction is “really valuable,” says glaciologist Twila Moon of the U.S.