Regional acceleration in ice mass loss from Greenland and Antarctica using GRACE time‐variable gravity data

We use Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) monthly gravity fields to determine the regional acceleration in ice mass loss in Greenland and Antarctica for 2003-2013. We find that the total mass loss is controlled by only a few regions. In Greenland, the southeast and northwest generate 70...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Velicogna, I, Sutterley, TC, van den Broeke, MR
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:unknown
Published: eScholarship, University of California 2014
Subjects:
Climate Action
mass balance
time-variable gravity
Greenland
sea level
Antarctica
remote sensing
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Amundsen Sea
Antarctic
Antarctic Peninsula
East Antarctica
Queen Maud Land
The Antarctic
Antarc*
Greenland Sea
Online Access:https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3794v25j
Description
Summary:We use Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) monthly gravity fields to determine the regional acceleration in ice mass loss in Greenland and Antarctica for 2003-2013. We find that the total mass loss is controlled by only a few regions. In Greenland, the southeast and northwest generate 70% of the loss (280±58 Gt/yr) mostly from ice dynamics, the southwest accounts for 54% of the total acceleration in loss (25.4±1.2 Gt/yr2) from a decrease in surface mass balance (SMB), followed by the northwest (34%), and we find no significant acceleration in the northeast. In Antarctica, the Amundsen Sea (AS) sector and the Antarctic Peninsula account for 64% and 17%, respectively, of the total loss (180±10 Gt/yr) mainly from ice dynamics. The AS sector contributes most of the acceleration in loss (11±4 Gt/yr2), and Queen Maud Land, East Antarctica, is the only sector with a significant mass gain due to a local increase in SMB (63±5 Gt/yr).

Similar Items