A reconciled estimate of ice sheet mass balance

We combined an ensemble of satellite altimetry, interferometry, and gravimetry data sets using common geographical regions, time intervals, and models of surface mass balance and glacial isostatic adjustment to estimate the mass balance of Earth’s polar ice sheets. We find that there is good agreeme...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science
Main Authors: Shepherd, Andrew, Ivins, Erik R., A, Geruo, Barletta, Valentina R., Bentley, Mike J., Bettadpur, Srinivas, Briggs, Kate H., Bromwich, David H., Forsberg, René, Galin, Natalia, Horwath, Martin, Jacobs, Stan, Joughin, Ian, King, Matt A., Lenaerts, Jan T.M., Li, Jilu, Ligtenberg, Stefan R.M., Luckman, Adrian, Luthcke, Scott B., McMillan, Malcolm, Meister, Rakia, Milne, Glenn, Mouginot, Jeremie, Muir, Alan, Nicolas, Julien P., Paden, John, Payne, Antony J., Pritchard, Hamish, Rignot, Eric, Rott, Helmut, Sandberg Sørensen, Louise, Scambos, Ted A., Scheuchl, Bernd, Schrama, Ernst J.O., Smith, Ben, Sundal, Aud V., van Angelen, Jan H., van de Berg, Willem J., van den Broeke, Michiel R., Vaughan, David G., Velicogna, Isabella, Wahr, John, Whitehouse, Pippa, Wingham, Duncan J., Yi, Donghui, Young, Duncan, Zwally, H. Jay
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:unknown
Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science 2012
Subjects:
Antarctic
The Antarctic
Antarctic Peninsula
East Antarctica
West Antarctica
Greenland
Antarc*
Antarctica
Ice Sheet
Online Access:http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/20684/
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1228102
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Summary:We combined an ensemble of satellite altimetry, interferometry, and gravimetry data sets using common geographical regions, time intervals, and models of surface mass balance and glacial isostatic adjustment to estimate the mass balance of Earth’s polar ice sheets. We find that there is good agreement between different satellite methods—especially in Greenland and West Antarctica—and that combining satellite data sets leads to greater certainty. Between 1992 and 2011, the ice sheets of Greenland, East Antarctica, West Antarctica, and the Antarctic Peninsula changed in mass by –142 ± 49, +14 ± 43, –65 ± 26, and –20 ± 14 gigatonnes year−1, respectively. Since 1992, the polar ice sheets have contributed, on average, 0.59 ± 0.20 millimeter year−1 to the rate of global sea-level rise.

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