The grounding line of the Antarctic Ice Sheet is the point at which ice leaves the continent and enters the ocean and contributes to sea level. It is where the ocean has its greatest influence on inland flow through bottom melting of floating ice shelves. It is, in fact, a zone (the Grounding Zone) where tidal motion, basal melting and ice dynamics are all key controls on its structure. The GZ is a dynamic feature of the ice sheet and changes in its location and structure may indicate the development of an instability in ice flow or a change in ice motion that will impact sea level and the future evolution of the ice sheet. Identifying and monitoring the evolution of the GZ is important, therefore, for providing i) an early warning of changes in state of the inland ice, ii) as an input into numerical models of ice sheet flow and iii) for measuring the flux of ice leaving the ice sheet. The ice thickness at the grounding line is an essential variable for determining the flux of ice leaving the ice sheet based on observations of ice velocity. To date, there has been no satisfactory way to investigate the evolution of the GZ for the whole of Antarctica. The aim of this project is to achieve this goal using a novel approach applied to CryoSat 2 data. This satellite was launched in 2010 and has a unique instrument on board called the SIRAL, which provides, for the first time, the ability to resolve at high temporal and spatial resolution the detailed structure of the GZ. Proof of concept analyses indicate its huge potential for this but work is required to i) improve and verify the accuracy of the CryoSat 2 data and ii) fully develop the methods for studying the GZ. Once this is achieved, we intend to monitor the evolution of the GZ over at least a seven year period and hopefully extending this further into the future using the same methods. In the process, we will also address an outstanding issue related to the accuracy of the ice thickness estimates derived from surface elevation in the GZ and greatly improve the accuracy of ice thickness estimates over the freely floating shelves that fringe almost the entire coastline of Antarctica.