A reconciled estimate of ice-sheet mass balance.

We combined an ensemble of satellite altimetry, interferometry, and gravimetry data sets using common geographical regions, time intervals, and models of surface mass balance and glacial isostatic adjustment to estimate the mass balance of Earth's polar ice sheets. We find that there is good ag...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Shepherd, Andrew, Ivins, Erik R, A, Geruo, Barletta, Valentina R, Bentley, Mike J, Bettadpur, Srinivas, Briggs, Kate H, Bromwich, David H, Forsberg, René, Galin, Natalia, Horwath, Martin, Jacobs, Stan, Joughin, Ian, King, Matt A, Lenaerts, Jan TM, Li, Jilu, Ligtenberg, Stefan RM, Luckman, Adrian, Luthcke, Scott B, McMillan, Malcolm, Meister, Rakia, Milne, Glenn, Mouginot, Jeremie, Muir, Alan, Nicolas, Julien P, Paden, John, Payne, Antony J, Pritchard, Hamish, Rignot, Eric, Rott, Helmut, Sørensen, Louise Sandberg, Scambos, Ted A, Scheuchl, Bernd, Schrama, Ernst JO, Smith, Ben, Sundal, Aud V, van Angelen, Jan H, van de Berg, Willem J, van den Broeke, Michiel R, Vaughan, David G, Velicogna, Isabella, Wahr, John, Whitehouse, Pippa L, Wingham, Duncan J, Yi, Donghui, Young, Duncan, Zwally, H Jay
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:unknown
Published: eScholarship, University of California 2012
Subjects:
Ice Cover
Geographic Information Systems
Greenland
Antarctic Regions
Climate Change
General Science & Technology
Antarctic
Antarctic Peninsula
East Antarctica
The Antarctic
West Antarctica
Antarc*
Antarctica
Ice Sheet
Online Access:https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0vq404h7
Description
Summary:We combined an ensemble of satellite altimetry, interferometry, and gravimetry data sets using common geographical regions, time intervals, and models of surface mass balance and glacial isostatic adjustment to estimate the mass balance of Earth's polar ice sheets. We find that there is good agreement between different satellite methods--especially in Greenland and West Antarctica--and that combining satellite data sets leads to greater certainty. Between 1992 and 2011, the ice sheets of Greenland, East Antarctica, West Antarctica, and the Antarctic Peninsula changed in mass by -142 ± 49, +14 ± 43, -65 ± 26, and -20 ± 14 gigatonnes year(-1), respectively. Since 1992, the polar ice sheets have contributed, on average, 0.59 ± 0.20 millimeter year(-1) to the rate of global sea-level rise.

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