The findings are said to be ''the most comprehensive picture'' yet of the decline and an important step towards more accurate predictions for future sea-level rise.
Analysis of millions of NASA satellite measurements from both regions' vast ice sheets shows the most serious ice loss is a result of glaciers speeding up where they flow into the sea.
The ''dynamic thinning'' of glaciers now occurs on all Greenland latitudes, has intensified on key Antarctic coastlines, is penetrating far inside the ice sheets and is spreading as ice shelves thin by ''ocean-driven melt''.
The work by the University of Bristol and the British Antarctic Survey is published on 24 September 2009 in the science journal, Nature.
Bristol's NCEO scientist Laura Edwards, one of the authors, said: ''This study highlights just how important satellite measurements are for observing change on the scale of the Greenland and Antarctica ice sheets.
''There is realistically no other way of obtaining such comprehensive coverage, and what we see is that many more glaciers have speeded up than we'd expected.
''We really need these measurements because we don't yet understand what the ice sheets are going to do in the future, but we know that they'll have a big effect on sea level.''
For further information please refer to http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/globalwarming/6222826/Antarctic-glaciers-melting-faster-than-previously-thought.html
