Our planet has two continental-sized glaciers, one present in Antarctica and the other in Greenland. Observations made by scientists over the last thirty-five years all agree on the concept of contraction and/or retreat of ice sheets. Melting ice sheets have powerful implications for the millions of people who depend on melting glaciers for drinking water and for the millions of people who will be displaced by the sea level rise that will occur as a direct result of the melting . Observations of melting ice also show that the rate at which the ice is melting is accelerating. Mountain glaciers around the world are also retreating. Some cases of particular mountain glaciers may show expansion, but studies by glaciologists show that the total mass of glaciers worldwide is decreasing at an accelerating rate. These studies have been conducted with a number of different methods that all show a trend in the same direction. The methods by which polar scientists quantify how much the ice sheet is growing or declining took a big step forward in the early 1990s, when satellite observations began providing space-based data. complete data sets. Three separate methods were used to acquire ice sheet mass data, each with particular approaches and limitations. Satellite altimetry measures changes in ice sheet volume using laser and/or radar altimeters. This can be converted into mass changes by taking into account the space- and time-varying surface density distribution together with spatial exploration of unsampled regions. The limitations of this method, similarly to other scientific methods, lie in the models used. A second method used is called input-minus-output. Through this method scientists calculate the difference between sn...... middle of paper...... Previous research suggested that ice sheets could grow under climate change due to increased precipitation due to warmer air warm which contains more moisture. As more recent studies suggest, the actual amount of precipitation increase resulting from global warming is counteracted by the acceleration of ice flow into the ocean. Overall, actually heavier snowfall will only increase future ice dumping. Ice physics simulations have shown that future ice discharge into the ocean will increase threefold due to additional precipitation. The snow that accumulates due to increased moisture in the air puts pressure on the ice and increases the speed at which it flows into the ocean. To clarify the notion; a greater amount of snow inside does not lead to a lack of sea level rise. This was quantified using several methods, each focusing on the buried portions of the glaciers.