Rapid ice discharge from southeast Greenland glaciers

• Published in: Geophysical Research Letters
• Main Authors: Rignot, E., Braaten, David A., Gogineni, Sivaprasad, Krabill, William B., McConnell, Joesph R.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Wiley 2014
• Subjects: Glaciology; Interferometry; Remote sensing; Sea level: variations and mean; Greenland; Jensen Glacier; East Greenland; glacier
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1808/15753; https://doi.org/10.1029/2004GL019474

This is the published version, also available here: http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2004GL019474. [1] Interferometric synthetic-aperture radar (InSAR) observations of southeast Greenland glaciers acquired by the Earth Remote Sensing Satellites (ERS-1/2) in 1996 were combined with ice sounding radar data collected in the late 1990s to estimate a total discharge of 46 ± 3 km3 ice per year between 62°N and 66°N, which is significantly lower than a mass input of 29 ± 3 km3 ice per year calculated from a recent compilation of snow accumulation data. Further north, Helheim Glacier discharges 23 ± 1 km3/yr vs 30 ± 3 km3/yr accumulation; Kangerdlugssuaq Glacier discharges 29 ± 2 km3/yr vs 23 ± 2 km3/yr; and Daugaard-Jensen Glacier discharges 10.5 ± 0.6 km3/yr vs 10.5 ± 1 km3/yr. The mass balance of east Greenland glaciers is therefore dominated by the negative mass balance of southeast Greenland glaciers (−17 ± 4 km3/yr), equivalent to a sea level rise of 0.04 ± 0.01 mm/yr. Warmer and drier conditions cannot explain the imbalance which we attribute to long-term changes in ice dynamics.