Accelerating Ice Loss From Peripheral Glaciers in North Greenland.

• Published in: Geophysical Research Letters
• Main Authors: Khan, Shfaqat A, Colgan, William, Neumann, Thomas A, van den Broeke, Michiel R, Brunt, Kelly M, Noël, Brice, Bamber, Jonathan L, Hassan, Javed, Bjørk, Anders A
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: John Wiley and Sons Inc 2022
• Subjects: Greenland; Icesat‐2; ice mass loss; peripheral glacier; satellite altimetry; sea level rise; Green land; Ice clouds; Ice loss; Mass loss; North greenland; 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; Ice Sheet; North Greenland
• Online Access: https://orbi.uliege.be/handle/2268/302200; https://orbi.uliege.be/bitstream/2268/302200/1/Khan_2022_GRL.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL098915

peer reviewed In recent decades, Greenland's peripheral glaciers have experienced large-scale mass loss, resulting in a substantial contribution to sea level rise. While their total area of Greenland ice cover is relatively small (4%), their mass loss is disproportionally large compared to the Greenland ice sheet. Satellite altimetry from Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) and ICESat-2 shows that mass loss from Greenland's peripheral glaciers increased from 27.2 ± 6.2 Gt/yr (February 2003-October 2009) to 42.3 ± 6.2 Gt/yr (October 2018-December 2021). These relatively small glaciers now constitute 11 ± 2% of Greenland's ice loss and contribute to global sea level rise. In the period October 2018-December 2021, mass loss increased by a factor of four for peripheral glaciers in North Greenland. While peripheral glacier mass loss is widespread, we also observe a complex regional pattern where increases in precipitation at high altitudes have partially counteracted increases in melt at low altitude.