A high-resolution record of Greenland mass balance

• Published in: Geophysical Research Letters
• Main Authors: McMillan, Malcolm, Leeson, Amber, Shepherd, Andrew, Briggs, Kate, Armitage, Thomas W. K., Hogg, Anna, Kuipers Munneke, Peter, van den Broeke, Michiel, Noël, Brice, van de Berg, Willem Jan, Ligtenberg, Stefan, Horwath, Martin, Groh, Andreas, Muir, Alan, Gilbert, Lin
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2016
• Subjects: altimetry; CryoSat-2; GRACE; Greenland Ice Sheet; mass balance; Cryosat; Geophysics; Earth and Planetary Sciences (all); General Earth and Planetary Sciences; Physical; chemical; mathematical & earth Sciences; Earth sciences & physical geography; Physique; chimie; mathématiques & sciences de la terre; Sciences de la terre & géographie physique; glacier; Greenland; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: https://orbi.uliege.be/handle/2268/301895; https://orbi.uliege.be/bitstream/2268/301895/1/McMillan_GRL_2016.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL069666

peer reviewed We map recent Greenland Ice Sheet elevation change at high spatial (5 km) and temporal (monthly) resolution using CryoSat-2 altimetry. After correcting for the impact of changing snowpack properties associated with unprecedented surface melting in 2012, we find good agreement (3 cm/yr bias) with airborne measurements. With the aid of regional climate and firn modeling, we compute high spatial and temporal resolution records of Greenland mass evolution, which correlate (R = 0.96) with monthly satellite gravimetry and reveal glacier dynamic imbalance. During 2011–2014, Greenland mass loss averaged 269 ± 51 Gt/yr. Atmospherically driven losses were widespread, with surface melt variability driving large fluctuations in the annual mass deficit. Terminus regions of five dynamically thinning glaciers, which constitute less than 1% of Greenland's area, contributed more than 12% of the net ice loss. This high-resolution record demonstrates that mass deficits extending over small spatial and temporal scales have made a relatively large contribution to recent ice sheet imbalance.