Dataset DOI: 10.5061/dryad.f7m0cfz9j

Description of the data and file structure

The three tar archives - Lmelt.tar, Mmelt.tar, and Hmelt.tar - include ice-free land computed in Antarctica for the low, moderate, and high ice melt scenarios described in Lucas et al. (2026). Triangular grids are provided, covering both positive (emerged) and negative (lost) land changes occurring at five selected times (2100, 2150, 2200, 2250, 2300) relative to the reference at 2015. These grids include the total (signed) change and the (signed) fraction of ice-free land change resulting from sea level change only.

There are 20 grids in each folder, saved in three files (thus, 60 items in each folder): {*xyz_xx, *ll_xx, *tri_xx}, where:

* = {L, M, H} for low, moderate and high melt, respectively

xx = [01, ..., 20] file number to be detailed below

xyz - coordinate portion, staring with the number of points (nn) and following by Cartesian (X,Y,Z) coordinates (three per row).

The origin of that system is at the center of Earth with the Z-axis pointing to the NP and the X-axis pointing to (0 Lat, 0 Lon)

ll - As above, but the XYZ coordinates are converted to (Lat, Lon) so there are two columns of data after the row dimension (nn) in the first line. The angles are in degrees, ranging Lat = [-90, 90], Lon = [0, 360].

tri - connectivity list: number of triangular elements (nt) in the first line following by triplets of nodal numbers [1 ... nn] making the respective triangles [1 ... nt].

Note that: (1) on a spherical surface, the XYZ and Lat-Lon coordinate representations are equivalent, so use whatever is convenient, paired with the connections to uniquely describe the grid; (2) the triangulated domain is (highly) multiply-connected, so there may be disjoined clusters made of a couple of triangles

File numbering [01, 20] reflects the following:

[01, 02, 03, 04, 05] total positive land changes

[06, 07, 08, 09, 10] total negative land changes

[11, 12, 13, 14, 15] positive land changes due to sea level change

[16, 17, 18, 19, 20] negative land changes due to sea level change where column 1-5 correspond to 2100, 2150, 2200, 2250, and 2300, respectively.

For example, the data corresponding to the total emerged (positive) land in 2250 for the moderate melt case is in {Mxyz_04, Mll_04, Mtri_04}, while the data corresponding to land loss due to sea level change in 2300 for the high melt case is in {Hxyz_20, Hll_20, Htri_20}.

To reproduce the data reported in the Extended Data Table 1 in the main text (the total emerged land and that resulting from sea level change alone) sum up the areas of the respective triangles in [01 ... 05] and [11 ... 15].

We computed the areas neglecting the curvature due to the small size of ~ 1 km.

We also include sea level output for the high, moderate, and low ice melt scenarios on the 4 km resolution surface grid in Antarctica for 2100, 2150, 2200, 2250, and 2300. This output can be found in SL_highMelt.tar, SL_moderateMelt.tar, and SL_lowMelt.tar. Sea level output is in a single column (in meters), and the corresponding 4 km resolution surface grid "surf_a4km" is found in each directory. The surf_a4km_Latlon.dat file found in each directory includes the latitude and longitude of the grid onto which the sea level output is interpolated.

Files and variables

File: Hmelt.tar

Description: Ice-free land emergence data files associated with the high ice melt scenario. 

File: Mmelt.tar

Description: Ice-free land emergence data files associated with the moderate ice melt scenario. 

File: Lmelt.tar

Description: Ice-free land emergence data files associated with the low ice melt scenario. 

File: plot_land_emergence.ipynb

Description: Script showing example of how data files can be plotted in Python. 

File: SL_highMelt.tar

Description: Sea level output for high ice melt scenario.

File: SL_moderateMelt.tar

Description: Sea level output for the moderate ice melt scenario. 

File: SL_lowMelt.tar

Description: Sea level output for the low ice melt scenario.