Geodetic measurements reveal similarities between posttextendashLast Glacial Maximum and present-day mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet
Accurate quantification of the millennial-scale mass balance of the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) and its contribution to global sea-level rise remain challenging because of sparse in situ observations in key regions. Glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) is the ongoing response of the solid Earth to ice...
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ftunivutrecht:oai:dspace.library.uu.nl:1874/341111 2023-07-23T04:19:27+02:00 Geodetic measurements reveal similarities between posttextendashLast Glacial Maximum and present-day mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet Khan, Shfaqat A. Sasgen, Ingo Bevis, Michael van Dam, Tonie Bamber, Jonathan L. Wahr, John Willis, Michael Kjær, Kurt H. Wouters, Bert Helm, Veit Csatho, Beata Fleming, Kevin Bjørk, Anders A. Aschwanden, Andy Knudsen, Per Munneke, Peter Kuipers Sub Dynamics Meteorology Marine and Atmospheric Research 2016 image/pdf https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/341111 other unknown 2375-2548 https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/341111 info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess Article 2016 ftunivutrecht 2023-07-02T01:52:15Z Accurate quantification of the millennial-scale mass balance of the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) and its contribution to global sea-level rise remain challenging because of sparse in situ observations in key regions. Glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) is the ongoing response of the solid Earth to ice and ocean load changes occurring since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM; ~21 thousand years ago) and may be used to constrain the GrIS deglaciation history. We use data from the Greenland Global Positioning System network to directly measure GIA and estimate basin-wide mass changes since the LGM. Unpredicted, large GIA uplift rates of +12 mm/year are found in southeast Greenland. These rates are due to low upper mantle viscosity in the region, from when Greenland passed over the Iceland hot spot about 40 million years ago. This region of concentrated soft rheology has a profound influence on reconstructing the deglaciation history of Greenland. We reevaluate the evolution of the GrIS since LGM and obtain a loss of 1.5-m sea-level equivalent from the northwest and southeast. These same sectors are dominating modern mass loss. We suggest that the present destabilization of these marine-based sectors may increase sea level for centuries to come. Our new deglaciation history and GIA uplift estimates suggest that studies that use the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment satellite mission to infer present-day changes in the GrIS may have erroneously corrected for GIA and underestimated the mass loss by about 20 gigatons/year. Article in Journal/Newspaper Greenland Ice Sheet Iceland Utrecht University Repository Greenland |
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Utrecht University Repository |
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ftunivutrecht |
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description |
Accurate quantification of the millennial-scale mass balance of the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) and its contribution to global sea-level rise remain challenging because of sparse in situ observations in key regions. Glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) is the ongoing response of the solid Earth to ice and ocean load changes occurring since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM; ~21 thousand years ago) and may be used to constrain the GrIS deglaciation history. We use data from the Greenland Global Positioning System network to directly measure GIA and estimate basin-wide mass changes since the LGM. Unpredicted, large GIA uplift rates of +12 mm/year are found in southeast Greenland. These rates are due to low upper mantle viscosity in the region, from when Greenland passed over the Iceland hot spot about 40 million years ago. This region of concentrated soft rheology has a profound influence on reconstructing the deglaciation history of Greenland. We reevaluate the evolution of the GrIS since LGM and obtain a loss of 1.5-m sea-level equivalent from the northwest and southeast. These same sectors are dominating modern mass loss. We suggest that the present destabilization of these marine-based sectors may increase sea level for centuries to come. Our new deglaciation history and GIA uplift estimates suggest that studies that use the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment satellite mission to infer present-day changes in the GrIS may have erroneously corrected for GIA and underestimated the mass loss by about 20 gigatons/year. |
author2 |
Sub Dynamics Meteorology Marine and Atmospheric Research |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Khan, Shfaqat A. Sasgen, Ingo Bevis, Michael van Dam, Tonie Bamber, Jonathan L. Wahr, John Willis, Michael Kjær, Kurt H. Wouters, Bert Helm, Veit Csatho, Beata Fleming, Kevin Bjørk, Anders A. Aschwanden, Andy Knudsen, Per Munneke, Peter Kuipers |
spellingShingle |
Khan, Shfaqat A. Sasgen, Ingo Bevis, Michael van Dam, Tonie Bamber, Jonathan L. Wahr, John Willis, Michael Kjær, Kurt H. Wouters, Bert Helm, Veit Csatho, Beata Fleming, Kevin Bjørk, Anders A. Aschwanden, Andy Knudsen, Per Munneke, Peter Kuipers Geodetic measurements reveal similarities between posttextendashLast Glacial Maximum and present-day mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet |
author_facet |
Khan, Shfaqat A. Sasgen, Ingo Bevis, Michael van Dam, Tonie Bamber, Jonathan L. Wahr, John Willis, Michael Kjær, Kurt H. Wouters, Bert Helm, Veit Csatho, Beata Fleming, Kevin Bjørk, Anders A. Aschwanden, Andy Knudsen, Per Munneke, Peter Kuipers |
author_sort |
Khan, Shfaqat A. |
title |
Geodetic measurements reveal similarities between posttextendashLast Glacial Maximum and present-day mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet |
title_short |
Geodetic measurements reveal similarities between posttextendashLast Glacial Maximum and present-day mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet |
title_full |
Geodetic measurements reveal similarities between posttextendashLast Glacial Maximum and present-day mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet |
title_fullStr |
Geodetic measurements reveal similarities between posttextendashLast Glacial Maximum and present-day mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet |
title_full_unstemmed |
Geodetic measurements reveal similarities between posttextendashLast Glacial Maximum and present-day mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet |
title_sort |
geodetic measurements reveal similarities between posttextendashlast glacial maximum and present-day mass loss from the greenland ice sheet |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/341111 |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
Greenland Ice Sheet Iceland |
genre_facet |
Greenland Ice Sheet Iceland |
op_relation |
2375-2548 https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/341111 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess |
_version_ |
1772182569980264448 |