Decadal mass balance of the Antarctic ice sheet from satellite radar altimetry and its contribution to global sea level change

• Main Author: Li, Yonghong
• Other Authors: Davis, Curt H.
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: University of Missouri--Columbia 2006
• Subjects: Sea level; Ice sheets > Remote sensing; Antarctic; The Antarctic; East Antarctica; West Antarctica; Antarc*; Antarctica; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10355/5853; https://doi.org/10.32469/10355/5853

The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on April 29, 2009) Vita. Thesis (Ph. D.) University of Missouri-Columbia 2006. [ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] In this research, we estimated the decadal mass balance of the Antarctic ice sheet using the European Space Agency's ERS-1 and ERS-2 satellite radar altimeter data over the time period of 1992 - 2003. Several techniques are developed to improve the processing and analysis of both low and high resolution elevation change time series. Our research results show that the majority of the East Antarctica interior regions are thickening, and this is probably caused by increased precipitation. Finally, many coastal areas, especially in West Antarctica, are experiencing strongly negative elevation change. These thinning trends are probably due to high heat fluxes, ocean warming, and/or basal melting. The overall estimate of Antarctic elevation change north of 81.6[degree]S corresponds to global sea level increase of 0.07 mm/yr based on the high-resolution interior and coastal results. Includes bibliographical references.