A comparative study of changes in the Lambert Glacier/Amery Ice Shelf system, East Antarctica, during 2004–2008 using gravity and surface elevation observations

• Published in: Journal of Glaciology
• Main Authors: HUAN XIE, RONGXING LI, XIAOHUA TONG, XIAOLEI JU, JUN LIU, YUNZHONG SHEN, LEI CHEN, SHIJIE LIU, BO SUN, XIANGBIN CUI, YIXIANG TIAN, WENKAI YE
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press 2016
• Subjects: GRACE; ICESat; Lambert-Amery System; mass changes; Environmental sciences; GE1-350; Meteorology. Climatology; QC851-999; Amery; Amery Ice Shelf; East Antarctica; Lambert Glacier; Antarc*; Antarctica; Ice Shelf; Journal of Glaciology
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2016.76; https://doaj.org/article/c1a3bd6d73fe4f52a50fe1bd3006bd56

We present results of a regional comparative study of surface mass changes from 2004 to 2008 based on Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE), The Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) and CHINARE observations over the Lambert Glacier/Amery Ice Shelf system (LAS). Estimation of the ICESat mass change rates benefitted from the density measurements along the CHINARE traverse and a spatial density adjustment method for reducing the effect of spatial density variations. In the high-elevation inland region, a positive trend was estimated from both ICESat and GRACE data, which is in line with the CHINARE accumulation measurements. In the coastal region, there were areas with high level accumulations in both ICESat and GRACE trend maps. In many high flow-speed glacier areas, negative mass change rates may be caused by dynamic ice flow discharges that have surpassed the snow accumulation. Overall, the mass change rate estimate in the LAS of 2004–2008 from the GRACE, ICESat and CHINARE data is 5.41 ± 4.59 Gt a−1, indicating a balanced to slightly positive mass trend. Along with other published results, this suggests that a longer-term positive mass trend in the LAS may have slowed in recent years.