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Dryad

Greenland mass trends from airborne and satellite altimetry during 2011–2020

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Apr 25, 2022 version files 97.98 MB

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 millimeters from April 2011 to April 2020, with the 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. Our gridded satellite altimetry data and surface mass balance (SMB), along with corrections due to firn compaction are available for download. Here, we provide:

(1) Annual (April to April) elevation change rates of the Greenland Ice Sheet from April 2011 to April 2020 from CryoSat-2, ICESat-2 and NASA’s ATM flights. 1x1 km grid.

(2) Annual (April to April) elevation change rates due to SMB anomalies. 1x1 km grid.

(3) Ice-sheet wide annual corrections due to firn compaction.