The rapid and steady mass loss of the patagonian icefields throughout the GRACE Era: 2002-2017

• Published in: Remote Sensing
• Main Authors: Richter, Andreas Jorg, Groh, Andreas, Horwath, Martin, Ivins, Erik, Marderwald, Eric Rodolfo, Hormaechea, José Luis, Perdomo, Raúl, Dietrich, Reinhard
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI
• Subjects: ICE MASS; SATELLITE GRAVIMETRY; PATAGONIA; GRACE; https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1.5; https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1; Antarctic; The Antarctic; Patagonia; Argentina; Andreas; Antarc*; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11336/119256

We use the complete gravity recovery and climate experiment (GRACE) Level-2 monthly time series to derive the ice mass changes of the Patagonian Icefields (Southern Andes). The glacial isostatic adjustment is accounted for by a regional model that is constrained by global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) uplift observations. Further corrections are applied concerning the effect of mass variations in the ocean, in the continental water storage, and of the Antarctic ice sheet. The 161 monthly GRACE gravity field solutions are inverted in the spatial domain through the adjustment of scaling factors applied to a-priori ice mass change patterns based on published remote sensing results for the Southern and Northern Patagonian Icefields, respectively. We infer an ice mass change rate of -24.4 ± 4.7 Gt/a for the Patagonian Icefields between April 2002 and June 2017, which corresponds to a contribution to the eustatic sea level rise of 0.067 ± 0.013 mm/a. Our time series of monthly ice mass changes reveals no indication for an acceleration in ice mass loss. We find indications that the Northern Patagonian Icefield contributes more to the integral ice loss than previously assumed. Fil: Richter, Andreas Jorg. Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Cs.astronomicas y Geofisicas. Laboratorio Maggia.; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina. Technische Universität Dresden; Alemania Fil: Groh, Andreas. Technische Universität Dresden; Alemania Fil: Horwath, Martin. Technische Universität Dresden; Alemania Fil: Ivins, Erik. California Institute of Technology; Estados Unidos Fil: Marderwald, Eric Rodolfo. Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Cs.astronomicas y Geofisicas. Laboratorio Maggia.; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina Fil: Hormaechea, José Luis. Estacion Astronomica Rio Grande; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de ...