Glacier Mass Loss Between 2010 and 2020 Dominated by Atmospheric Forcing

Abstract We generate a high spatial and temporal record of ice loss across glaciers globally for the first time from CryoSat‐2 swath interferometric radar altimetry. We show that between 2010 and 2020, glaciers lost a total of 272 ± 11 Gt yr−1 of ice, equivalent to a loss of 2% of their total volume...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geophysical Research Letters
Main Authors: Livia Jakob, Noel Gourmelen
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2023
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL102954
https://doaj.org/article/179a9febdd704e6db409a02097bed3db
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Summary:Abstract We generate a high spatial and temporal record of ice loss across glaciers globally for the first time from CryoSat‐2 swath interferometric radar altimetry. We show that between 2010 and 2020, glaciers lost a total of 272 ± 11 Gt yr−1 of ice, equivalent to a loss of 2% of their total volume during the 10‐year study period. Using a simple parameterization, we demonstrate that during this period, surface mass balance anomaly dominated the mass budget, accounting for 89% ± 5% of the total ice loss. Ice discharge anomaly was responsible for 11% ± 1% of the total ice loss, and 28% ± 2% of the ice loss when excluding land‐terminating sectors. Strong discharge anomaly is found over areas of changing oceanic conditions such as in the Barents and Kara Seas or in Antarctica, and areas fringed by lakes and fjords in Patagonia.