McMillan, M;
Leeson, A;
Shepherd, A;
Briggs, K;
Armitage, TWK;
Hogg, A;
Munneke, PK;
... Gilbert, L; + view all
(2016)
A high-resolution record of Greenland mass balance.
Geophysical Research Letters
, 43
(13)
pp. 7002-7010.
10.1002/2016GL069666.
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Abstract
We map recent Greenland Ice Sheet elevation change at high spatial (5 km) and temporal (monthly) resolution using CryoSat-2 altimetry. After correcting for the impact of changing snowpack properties associated with unprecedented surface melting in 2012, we find good agreement (3 cm/yr bias) with airborne measurements. With the aid of regional climate and firn modeling, we compute high spatial and temporal resolution records of Greenland mass evolution, which correlate (R = 0.96) with monthly satellite gravimetry and reveal glacier dynamic imbalance. During 2011–2014, Greenland mass loss averaged 269 ± 51 Gt/yr. Atmospherically driven losses were widespread, with surface melt variability driving large fluctuations in the annual mass deficit. Terminus regions of five dynamically thinning glaciers, which constitute less than 1% of Greenland's area, contributed more than 12% of the net ice loss. This high-resolution record demonstrates that mass deficits extending over small spatial and temporal scales have made a relatively large contribution to recent ice sheet imbalance.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | A high-resolution record of Greenland mass balance |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1002/2016GL069666 |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2016GL069666 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | ©2016. The Authors. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Keywords: | Science & Technology, Physical Sciences, Geosciences, Multidisciplinary, Geology, Greenland Ice Sheet, mass balance, altimetry, CryoSat-2, Grace, Sea-level Rise, Regional Climate Model, Time-variable Gravity, Antarctic Ice-sheet, Elevation Change, Radar Altimetry, Surface Melt, Cryosat-2, Firn |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Space and Climate Physics |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1521743 |
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