Continuity of Ice Sheet Mass Loss in Greenland and Antarctica From the GRACE and GRACE Follow‐On Missions

• Published in: Geophysical Research Letters
• Main Authors: Velicogna, Isabella, Mohajerani, Yara, A, Geruo, Landerer, Felix, Mouginot, Jeremie, Noel, Brice, Rignot, Eric, Sutterley, Tyler, Broeke, Michiel, Wessem, Melchior, Wiese, David
• Other Authors: Institut des Géosciences de l’Environnement (IGE), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA)-Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble INP ), Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2020
• Subjects: [SDE]Environmental Sciences; Amundsen Sea; Antarc*; Antarctic; Antarctic Peninsula; Antarctica; East Antarctica; Greenland; Ice Sheet; Queen Maud Land; West Antarctica; Wilkes Land
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-03026278; https://hal.science/hal-03026278/document; https://hal.science/hal-03026278/file/2020GL087291.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL087291

International audience We examine data continuity between the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) and GRACE Follow‐On (FO) missions over Greenland and Antarctica using independent data from the mass budget method, which calculates the difference between ice sheet surface mass balance and ice discharge at the periphery. For both ice sheets, we find consistent GRACE/GRACE‐FO time series across the data gap, at the continental and regional scales, and the data gap is confidently filled with mass budget method data. In Greenland, the GRACE‐FO data reveal an exceptional summer loss of 600 Gt in 2019 following two cold summers. In Antarctica, ongoing high mass losses in the Amundsen Sea Embayment of West Antarctica, the Antarctic Peninsula, and Wilkes Land in East Antarctica cumulate to 2130, 560, and 370 Gt, respectively, since 2002. A cumulative mass gain of 980 Gt in Queen Maud Land since 2009, however, led to a pause in the acceleration in mass loss from Antarctica after 2016.