Recent contributions of glaciers and ice caps to sea level rise, from GRACE

Glaciers and ice caps (GIC) are important contributors to present-day global mean sea-level rise (SLR). Most previous global mass balance estimates for GIC rely on interpolation of sparse mass balance measurements, representing a small fraction of the GIC area. Instead, we here perform a global, sim...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Jacob, Thomas, Wahr, J., Pfeffer, T., Swenson, S.
Other Authors: Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières (BRGM) (BRGM), Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), University of Colorado Boulder -National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Institute of Arctic Alpine Research University of Colorado Boulder (INSTAAR), University of Colorado Boulder, National Center for Atmospheric Research Boulder (NCAR)
Format: Conference Object
Language:English
Published: HAL CCSD 2011
Subjects:
[SDU.STU.GL]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Glaciology
[SDU.STU.GP]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Geophysics [physics.geo-ph]
[PHYS.PHYS.PHYS-GEO-PH]Physics [physics]/Physics [physics]/Geophysics [physics.geo-ph]
[SDE.MCG]Environmental Sciences/Global Changes
Antarctic
Greenland
Antarc*
Online Access:https://hal-brgm.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00633384
https://hal-brgm.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00633384/document
https://hal-brgm.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00633384/file/abstract.pdf
Description
Summary:Glaciers and ice caps (GIC) are important contributors to present-day global mean sea-level rise (SLR). Most previous global mass balance estimates for GIC rely on interpolation of sparse mass balance measurements, representing a small fraction of the GIC area. Instead, we here perform a global, simultaneous inversion of mass change over all ice-covered regions larger than 100 km2 using monthly GRACE-derived satellite gravity fields spanning January 2003 to December 2010. This is the first GRACE-based study where every such GIC region is considered and the results quantified. We conclude that GIC, excluding the Greenland and Antarctic peripheral glaciers and ice caps (PGIC), lost mass at a rate of 148 ± 30 giga tonnes per year (Gt/yr) during this period, contributing 0.41 ± 0.08 mm/yr to SLR. This rate is significantly smaller than previous estimates that rely on extrapolation of mass balance measurements.

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