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Antarctic Ice-Sheet Mass Balance from Satellite Altimetry 1992 to 2001A major uncertainty in understanding the causes of the current rate of sea level rise is the potential contributions from mass imbalances of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. Estimates of the current mass balance of the Antarctic ice sheet are derived from surface- elevation changes obtained from 9 years of ERS - 1 & 2 radar altimeter data. Elevation time-series are created from altimeter crossovers among 90-day data periods on a 50 km grid to 81.5 S. The time series are fit with a multivariate linear/sinusoidal function to give the average rate of elevation change (dH/dt). On the major Rome-Filchner, Ross, and Amery ice shelves, the W d t are small or near zero. In contrast, the ice shelves of the Antarctic Peninsula and along the West Antarctic coast appear to be thinning significantly, with a 23 +/- 3 cm per year surface elevation decrease on the Larsen ice shelf and a 65 +/- 4 cm per year decrease on the Dotson ice shelf. On the grounded ice, significant elevation decreases are obtained over most of the drainage basins of the Pine Island and Thwaites glaciers in West Antarctica and inland of Law Dome in East Antarctica. Significant elevation increases are observed within about 200 km of the coast around much of the rest of the ice sheet. Farther inland, the changes are a mixed pattern of increases and decreases with increases of a few centimeters per year at the highest elevations of the East Antarctic plateau. The derived elevation changes are combined with estimates of the bedrock uplift from several models to provide maps of ice thickness change. The ice thickness changes enable estimates of the ice mass balances for the major drainage basins, the overall mass balance, and the current contribution of the ice sheet to global sea level change.
Document ID
20040015278
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Zwally, H. Jay
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Brenner, Anita C.
(Raytheon Information Technology and Scientific Services Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Cornejo, Helen
(Raytheon Information Technology and Scientific Services Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Giovinetto, Mario
(Raytheon Information Technology and Scientific Services Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Saba, Jack L.
(Raytheon Information Technology and Scientific Services Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Yi, Donghui
(Raytheon Information Technology and Scientific Services Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Date Acquired
August 21, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2003
Subject Category
Meteorology And Climatology
Meeting Information
Meeting: IUGG Meeting
Location: Sapporo
Country: Japan
Start Date: July 7, 2003
End Date: July 11, 2003
Sponsors: International Council of Scientific Unions
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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