Balance velocities of the Greenland ice sheet

• Main Authors: Ian Joughin Jet, Ian Joughin, Mark Fahnestock, Simon Ekholm, Ron Kwok
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Greenland; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.40.1262; http://pangea.stanford.edu/~jonsson/article.pdf

. We present a map of balance velocities for the Greenland ice sheet. The resolution of the underlying DEM, which was derived primarily from radar altimetery data, yields far greater detail than earlier balance velocity estimates for Greenland. The velocity contours reveal in striking detail the location of an ice stream in northeastern Greenland, which was only recently discovered using satellite imagery. Enhanced flow associated with all of the major outlets is clearly visible, although small errors in the source data result in less accurate estimates of the absolute flow speeds. Nevertheless, the balance map is useful for ice-sheet modelling, mass balance studies, and field planning. Introduction The coverage over the Greenland Ice Sheet by the satelliteborne ERS-1 radar altimeter has dramatically improved our knowledge of the shape of the ice sheet surface. In this paper we will show that this knowledge, when combined with estimates of ice thickness and accumulation, yields a su.