Regional acceleration in ice mass loss from Greenland and Antarctica using GRACE time-variable gravity data

• Published in: Geophysical research letters 2014-11, Vol.41 (22), p.8130-8137
• Main Authors: Velicogna, I., Sutterley, T. C., van den Broeke, M. R.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acceleration; Antarctica; Balancing; Climate; Climate change; Data; Data recovery; Dynamics; Fields; Global warming; GRACE (experiment); Gravitation; Gravitational fields; Gravity; Gravity data; Greenland; Ice; Marine; Mass; mass balance; Northwest; Recovery; Regional; remote sensing; sea level; time-variable gravity
• ISSN: 0094-8276; 1944-8007
• DOI: 10.1002/2014GL061052

We use Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) monthly gravity fields to determine the regional acceleration in ice mass loss in Greenland and Antarctica for 2003–2013. We find that the total mass loss is controlled by only a few regions. In Greenland, the southeast and northwest generate 70% of the loss (280±58 Gt/yr) mostly from ice dynamics, the southwest accounts for 54% of the total acceleration in loss (25.4±1.2 Gt/yr2) from a decrease in surface mass balance (SMB), followed by the northwest (34%), and we find no significant acceleration in the northeast. In Antarctica, the Amundsen Sea (AS) sector and the Antarctic Peninsula account for 64% and 17%, respectively, of the total loss (180±10 Gt/yr) mainly from ice dynamics. The AS sector contributes most of the acceleration in loss (11±4 Gt/yr2), and Queen Maud Land, East Antarctica, is the only sector with a significant mass gain due to a local increase in SMB (63±5 Gt/yr). Key PointsKey regions of mass loss acceleration identified unambiguously in GRACE dataIce sheet loss and acceleration driven by only a few regionsIdentified partitioning total loss between surface mass balance and ice dynamics