Mass Loss of Totten and Moscow University Glaciers, East Antarctica, Using Regionally Optimized GRACE Mascons

• Published in: Geophysical Research Letters
• Main Authors: Mohajerani, Yara, Velicogna, Isabella, Rignot, Eric
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: eScholarship, University of California 2018
• Subjects: Climate Action; Totten glacier; East Antarctica; GRACE; regional climate models; mass budget; mass balance; Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences; Antarc*; Antarctic; Antarctica; Totten Glacier
• Online Access: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/21c3r9dv; https://escholarship.org/content/qt21c3r9dv/qt21c3r9dv.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1029/2018gl078173

Totten and Moscow University glaciers, in the marine-based sector of East Antarctica, contain enough ice to raise sea level by 5m. Obtaining precise measurements of their mass balance is challenging owing to large area of the basins and the small mass balance signal compared to West Antarctic glaciers. Here we employ a locally optimized processing of Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) harmonics to evaluate their mass balance at the sub-basin scale and compare the results with mass budget method (MBM) estimates using regional atmospheric climate model version 2.3 (RACMO2.3) or Modèle Atmosphérique Régional version 3.6.4 (MAR3.6.4). The sub-basin mass loss estimate for April 2002 to November 2015 is 14.8 ± 4.3Gt/yr, which is weakly affected by glacial isostatic adjustment uncertainties (±1.4Gt/yr). This result agrees with MBM/RACMO2.3 (15.8 ± 2.0Gt/yr), whereas MBM/MAR3.6.4 underestimates the loss (6.6 ± 1.6Gt/yr). For the entire drainage, the mass loss for April 2002 to August 2016 is 18.5 ± 6.6Gt/yr, or 15 ± 4% of its ice flux. These results provide unequivocal evidence for mass loss in this East Antarctic sector.