Abstract
We use satellite and airborne altimetry to estimate annual mass changes
of the Greenland Ice Sheet. We estimate ice loss corresponding to a
sea-level rise of 6.9 ± 0.4 mm from April 2011 to April 2020, with a
highest annual ice loss rate of 1.4 mm/yr sea-level equivalent from
April 2019 to April 2020. On a regional scale, our annual mass loss
timeseries reveals 10–15 m/yr dynamic thickening at the terminus of
Jakobshavn Isbræ from April 2016 to April 2018, followed by a return to
dynamic thinning. We observe contrasting patterns of mass loss
acceleration in different basins across the ice sheet and suggest that
these spatiotemporal trends could be useful for calibrating and
validating prognostic ice sheet models. In addition to resolving the
spatial and temporal fingerprint of Greenland's recent ice loss, these
mass loss grids are key for partitioning contemporary elastic vertical
land motion from longer-term glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) trends
at GPS stations around the ice sheet. Our ice-loss product results in a
significantly different GIA interpretation from a previous ice-loss
product.
Original language | English |
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Article number | e2021JF006505 |
Journal | Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface |
Volume | 127 |
Issue number | 4 |
Number of pages | 20 |
ISSN | 0148-0227 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2022 |