TY - JOUR
T1 - Timing and origin of recent regional ice-mass loss in Greenland
AU - Sasgen, I.
AU - van den Broeke, M.R.
AU - Bamber, J.L.
AU - Rignot, Eric
AU - Sandberg Sörensen, L.
AU - Wouters, B.
AU - Martinec, Z.
AU - Velicogna, I.
AU - Simonsen, S.B.
PY - 2012
Y1 - 2012
N2 - Within thelastdecade,theGreenlandicesheet(GrIS)anditssurroundingshaveexperiencedrecord
high surfacetemperatures(Mote,2007; Box etal.,2010), icesheetmeltextent(Fettweisetal.,2011)
and record-lowsummersea-iceextent(Nghiemetal.,2007). Usingthreeindependentdatasets,we
derive,forthefirsttime,consistentice-masstrendsandtemporalvariationswithinsevenmajor
drainagebasinsfromgravityfieldsfromtheGravityRecoveryandClimateExperiment(GRACE; Tapley
et al.,2004), surface-icevelocitiesfromInteferometricSyntheticApertureRadar(InSAR; Rignot and
Kanagaratnam,2006) togetherwithoutputoftheregionalatmosphericclimatemodelling(RACMO2/
GR; Ettema etal.,2009),andsurface-elevationchangesfromtheIce,cloudandlandelevationsatellite
(ICESat; Sørensenetal.,2011). Weshowthatchangingicedischarge(D),surfacemeltingand
subsequentrun-off(M/R)andprecipitation(P)allcontribute,inacomplexandregionallyvariable
interplay,totheincreasinglynegativemassbalanceoftheGrISobservedwithinthelastdecade.
InterannualvariabilityinPalongthenorthwestandwestcoastsoftheGrISlargelyexplainsthe
apparentregionalmasslossincreaseduring2002–2010,andobscuresincreasingM/RandDsincethe
1990s.Inwinter2002/2003and2008/2009,accumulationanomaliesintheeastandsoutheast
temporarilyoutweighedthelossesbyM/RandDthatprevailedduring2003–2008,andaftersummer
2010.Overall,forallbasinsoftheGrIS,thedecadalvariabilityofanomaliesinP,M/RandDbetween
1958 and2010(w.r.t.1961–1990)wassignificantlyexceededbytheregionaltrendsobservedduring
the GRACEperiod(2002–2011).
AB - Within thelastdecade,theGreenlandicesheet(GrIS)anditssurroundingshaveexperiencedrecord
high surfacetemperatures(Mote,2007; Box etal.,2010), icesheetmeltextent(Fettweisetal.,2011)
and record-lowsummersea-iceextent(Nghiemetal.,2007). Usingthreeindependentdatasets,we
derive,forthefirsttime,consistentice-masstrendsandtemporalvariationswithinsevenmajor
drainagebasinsfromgravityfieldsfromtheGravityRecoveryandClimateExperiment(GRACE; Tapley
et al.,2004), surface-icevelocitiesfromInteferometricSyntheticApertureRadar(InSAR; Rignot and
Kanagaratnam,2006) togetherwithoutputoftheregionalatmosphericclimatemodelling(RACMO2/
GR; Ettema etal.,2009),andsurface-elevationchangesfromtheIce,cloudandlandelevationsatellite
(ICESat; Sørensenetal.,2011). Weshowthatchangingicedischarge(D),surfacemeltingand
subsequentrun-off(M/R)andprecipitation(P)allcontribute,inacomplexandregionallyvariable
interplay,totheincreasinglynegativemassbalanceoftheGrISobservedwithinthelastdecade.
InterannualvariabilityinPalongthenorthwestandwestcoastsoftheGrISlargelyexplainsthe
apparentregionalmasslossincreaseduring2002–2010,andobscuresincreasingM/RandDsincethe
1990s.Inwinter2002/2003and2008/2009,accumulationanomaliesintheeastandsoutheast
temporarilyoutweighedthelossesbyM/RandDthatprevailedduring2003–2008,andaftersummer
2010.Overall,forallbasinsoftheGrIS,thedecadalvariabilityofanomaliesinP,M/RandDbetween
1958 and2010(w.r.t.1961–1990)wassignificantlyexceededbytheregionaltrendsobservedduring
the GRACEperiod(2002–2011).
U2 - 10.1016/j.epsl.2012.03.033
DO - 10.1016/j.epsl.2012.03.033
M3 - Article
SN - 0012-821X
VL - 333-334
SP - 293
EP - 303
JO - Earth and Planetary Science Letters
JF - Earth and Planetary Science Letters
ER -