Return to rapid ice loss in Greenland and record loss in 2019 detected by the GRACE-FO satellites

• Published in: Communications Earth & Environment
• Main Authors: Sasgen, Ingo, Wouters, Bert, Gardner, Alex S., King, Michalea D., Tedesco, Marco, Landerer, Felix W., Dahle, Christoph, Save, Himanshu, Fettweis, Xavier, Division of Glaciology, Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung, Bremerhaven, Germany, Department of Geoscience & Remote Sensing, Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, USA, School of Earth Sciences, The Ohio State University, Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, Columbus, USA, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York, USA, Department of Geodesy, GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Telegrafenberg, Potsdam, Germany, Center for Space Research at The University of Texas, Austin, USA, Department of Geography, SPHERES research unit, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Nature Publishing Group UK 2020
• Subjects: ddc:551; Climate change; Cryospheric science; Greenland; ice loss; Alfred Wegener Institute; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-020-0010-1; http://resolver.sub.uni-goettingen.de/purl?gldocs-11858/11168

Between 2003-2016, the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) was one of the largest contributors to sea level rise, as it lost about 255 Gt of ice per year. This mass loss slowed in 2017 and 2018 to about 100 Gt yr −1 . Here we examine further changes in rate of GrIS mass loss, by analyzing data from the GRACE-FO (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment – Follow On) satellite mission, launched in May 2018. Using simulations with regional climate models we show that the mass losses observed in 2017 and 2018 by the GRACE and GRACE-FO missions are lower than in any other two year period between 2003 and 2019, the combined period of the two missions. We find that this reduced ice loss results from two anomalous cold summers in western Greenland, compounded by snow-rich autumn and winter conditions in the east. For 2019, GRACE-FO reveals a return to high melt rates leading to a mass loss of 223 ± 12 Gt month −1 during the month of July alone, and a record annual mass loss of 532 ± 58 Gt yr −1 . Mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet returned to record levels in 2019, following unusually small loss in 2017-18, according to an analysis of satellite data from GRACE and its follow-on mission GRACE-FO. Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (Alfred-Wegener- Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research) https://doi.org/10.13039/501100003207 Helmholtz Association https://doi.org/10.13039/501100009318 http://geoweb.princeton.edu/people/simons/software.html