A high-resolution record of Greenland mass balance

作者：McMillan Malcolm^*; Leeson Amber; Shepherd Andrew; Briggs Kate; Armitage Thomas W K; Hogg Anna; Munneke Peter Kuipers; van den Broeke Michiel; Noel Brice; van de Berg Willem Jan; Ligtenberg Stefan; Horwath Martin; Groh Andreas; Muir Alan; Gilbert Lin

来源：Geophysical Research Letters, 2016, 43(13): 7002-7010.

DOI：10.1002/2016GL069666

• Greenland Ice Sheet
• mass balance
• altimetry
• CryoSat-2
• GRACE

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 (3cm/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 26951Gt/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.

• 出版日期2016-7-16