A high‐resolution record of Greenland mass balance
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- 作者：Malcolm McMillan ; Amber Leeson ; Andrew Shepherd ; Kate Briggs ; Thomas W. K. Armitage ; Anna Hogg ; Peter Kuipers Munneke ; Michiel van den Broeke ; Brice Noël ; Willem Jan van de Berg ; et al
- 刊名：Geophysical Research Letters
- 出版年：2016
- 出版时间：16 July 2016
- 年：2016
- 卷：43
- 期：13
- 页码：7002-7010
- 全文大小：568.2KB
- ISSN：1944-8007
文摘
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.