Using GRACE Data to Estimate Climate Change Impacts on the Earth’s Moment of Inertia
The widely used 15-year Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) measured mass redistribution shows an increasing trend in the nontidal Earth’s moment of inertia (MOI). Various contributing components are independently evaluated using five high-quality atmospheric reanalysis datasets and a no...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/feart.2021.640304 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2021.640304/full |
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crfrontiers:10.3389/feart.2021.640304 2024-02-11T09:58:54+01:00 Using GRACE Data to Estimate Climate Change Impacts on the Earth’s Moment of Inertia Ren, Diandong Hu, Aixue 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/feart.2021.640304 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2021.640304/full unknown Frontiers Media SA https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Frontiers in Earth Science volume 9 ISSN 2296-6463 General Earth and Planetary Sciences journal-article 2021 crfrontiers https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2021.640304 2024-01-26T10:06:21Z The widely used 15-year Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) measured mass redistribution shows an increasing trend in the nontidal Earth’s moment of inertia (MOI). Various contributing components are independently evaluated using five high-quality atmospheric reanalysis datasets and a novelty numerical modeling system. We found a steady, statistically robust (passed a two-tailed t-test at p = 0.04 for dof = 15) rate of MOI increase reaching ∼11.0 × 10 27 kg m 2 /yr, equivalent to a 11.45 s μ /yr increase in the length of day, during 2002–2017. Further analysis suggests that the Antarctic ice sheet contributes the most, followed by the Greenland ice sheet, the precipitation-driven land hydrological cycle, mountain glaciers, and the fluctuation of atmosphere, in this order. Short-term MOI spikes from the GRACE measurements are mostly associated with major low/mid-latitude earthquakes, fitting closely with the MOI variations from the hydrological cycle. Atmospheric fluctuation contributes the least but has a steady trend of 0.5 s μ /yr, with horizontal mass distribution contributing twice as much as the vertical expansion and associated lift of the atmosphere’s center of mass. The latter is a previously overlooked term affecting MOI fluctuation. The contribution to the observed MOI trend from a warming climate likely will persist in the future, largely due to the continuous mass loss from the Earth’s ice sheets. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Greenland Ice Sheet Frontiers (Publisher) Antarctic Greenland The Antarctic Frontiers in Earth Science 9 |
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General Earth and Planetary Sciences |
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General Earth and Planetary Sciences Ren, Diandong Hu, Aixue Using GRACE Data to Estimate Climate Change Impacts on the Earth’s Moment of Inertia |
topic_facet |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences |
description |
The widely used 15-year Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) measured mass redistribution shows an increasing trend in the nontidal Earth’s moment of inertia (MOI). Various contributing components are independently evaluated using five high-quality atmospheric reanalysis datasets and a novelty numerical modeling system. We found a steady, statistically robust (passed a two-tailed t-test at p = 0.04 for dof = 15) rate of MOI increase reaching ∼11.0 × 10 27 kg m 2 /yr, equivalent to a 11.45 s μ /yr increase in the length of day, during 2002–2017. Further analysis suggests that the Antarctic ice sheet contributes the most, followed by the Greenland ice sheet, the precipitation-driven land hydrological cycle, mountain glaciers, and the fluctuation of atmosphere, in this order. Short-term MOI spikes from the GRACE measurements are mostly associated with major low/mid-latitude earthquakes, fitting closely with the MOI variations from the hydrological cycle. Atmospheric fluctuation contributes the least but has a steady trend of 0.5 s μ /yr, with horizontal mass distribution contributing twice as much as the vertical expansion and associated lift of the atmosphere’s center of mass. The latter is a previously overlooked term affecting MOI fluctuation. The contribution to the observed MOI trend from a warming climate likely will persist in the future, largely due to the continuous mass loss from the Earth’s ice sheets. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Ren, Diandong Hu, Aixue |
author_facet |
Ren, Diandong Hu, Aixue |
author_sort |
Ren, Diandong |
title |
Using GRACE Data to Estimate Climate Change Impacts on the Earth’s Moment of Inertia |
title_short |
Using GRACE Data to Estimate Climate Change Impacts on the Earth’s Moment of Inertia |
title_full |
Using GRACE Data to Estimate Climate Change Impacts on the Earth’s Moment of Inertia |
title_fullStr |
Using GRACE Data to Estimate Climate Change Impacts on the Earth’s Moment of Inertia |
title_full_unstemmed |
Using GRACE Data to Estimate Climate Change Impacts on the Earth’s Moment of Inertia |
title_sort |
using grace data to estimate climate change impacts on the earth’s moment of inertia |
publisher |
Frontiers Media SA |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/feart.2021.640304 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2021.640304/full |
geographic |
Antarctic Greenland The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Greenland The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Greenland Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Greenland Ice Sheet |
op_source |
Frontiers in Earth Science volume 9 ISSN 2296-6463 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2021.640304 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Earth Science |
container_volume |
9 |
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1790594727132790784 |