Evaluation of Regional Climate Models Using Regionally Optimized GRACE Mascons in the Amery and Getz Ice Shelves Basins, Antarctica

• 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 2019
• Subjects: Climate Action; Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences; Amery Ice Shelf; Antarc*; Antarctica; East Antarctica; Getz Ice Shelf; Ice Shelf; Ice Shelves; West Antarctica
• Online Access: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7sm4f4gt; https://escholarship.org/content/qt7sm4f4gt/qt7sm4f4gt.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1029/2019gl084665

We develop regionally optimized Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) solutions to evaluate the mass balance of the drainage basins of Amery Ice Shelf, East Antarctica, and Getz Ice Shelf, West Antarctica. We find that the Amery region is near balance, while the Getz region is rapidly losing mass. We compare the results with the mass budget method (MBM) combining ice discharge along the periphery with surface mass balance derived from three regional climate models: (1) Regional Atmospheric Climate Model (RACMO) 2.3p1 and (2) 2.3p2, and (3) Modèle Atmosphérique Régional 3.6.41. For Amery, MBM/RACMO2.3p1 agrees with GRACE, while MBM/RACMO2.3p2 and MBM/MAR3.6.41 suggest a positive mass balance. For Getz, all estimates agree with a mass loss and the GRACE results are robust to uncertainties in glacial isostatic adjustment derived from an ensemble 128,000 forward models. Over the period April 2002 to November 2015, the mass loss of the Getz drainage basin is 22.9±10.9Gt/yr with an acceleration of 1.6±0.9Gt/yr2.