Spatial and temporal Antarctic Ice Sheet mass trends, glacio-isostatic adjustment, and surface processes from a joint inversion of satellite altimeter, gravity, and GPS data

• Published in: Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface
• Main Authors: Martin-Espanol, A, Zammit-Mangion, A, Clarke, PJ, Flament, T, Helm, V, King, MA, Luthcke, SB, Petrie, E, Remy, F, Schon, N, Wouters, B, Bamber, JL
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, Inc 2016
• Subjects: Engineering; Geomatic Engineering; Geodesy; Amundsen Sea; Antarctic; Antarctic Peninsula; East Antarctica; The Antarctic; West Antarctica; Antarc*; Antarctica; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JF003550; http://ecite.utas.edu.au/106994

We present spatiotemporal mass balance trends for the Antarctic Ice Sheet from astatistical inversion of satellite altimetry, gravimetry, and elastic-corrected GPS data for the period 20032013. Our method simultaneously determines annual trends in ice dynamics, surface mass balanceanomalies, and a time-invariant solution for glacio-isostatic adjustment while remaining largely independent of forward models. We establish that over the period 20032013, Antarctica has been losing mass at a rate of −84 22Gtyr −1 , with a sustained negative mean trend of dynamic imbalance of −111 13Gtyr −1 . West Antarctica is the largest contributor with −112 10Gtyr −1 , mainly triggered by high thinning rates of glaciers draining into the Amundsen Sea Embayment. The Antarctic Peninsula has experienced a dramatic increase in mass loss in the last decade, with a mean rate of −28 7Gtyr −1 and significantly higher values for the most recent years following the destabilization of the Southern Antarctic Peninsula around 2010. The total mass loss is partly compensated by a significant mass gain of 56 18Gtyr −1 in East Antarctica due to a positive trend of surface mass balance anomalies.