scholarly journals Mass balance of the Antarctic ice sheet 1992–2016: reconciling results from GRACE gravimetry with ICESat, ERS1/2 and Envisat altimetry

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
H. Jay Zwally ◽  
John W. Robbins ◽  
Scott B. Luthcke ◽  
Bryant D. Loomis ◽  
Frédérique Rémy

Abstract GRACE and ICESat Antarctic mass-balance differences are resolved utilizing their dependencies on corrections for changes in mass and volume of the same underlying mantle material forced by ice-loading changes. Modeled gravimetry corrections are 5.22 times altimetry corrections over East Antarctica (EA) and 4.51 times over West Antarctica (WA), with inferred mantle densities 4.75 and 4.11 g cm−3. Derived sensitivities (Sg, Sa) to bedrock motion enable calculation of motion (δB0) needed to equalize GRACE and ICESat mass changes during 2003–08. For EA, δB0 is −2.2 mm a−1 subsidence with mass matching at 150 Gt a−1, inland WA is −3.5 mm a−1 at 66 Gt a−1, and coastal WA is only −0.35 mm a−1 at −95 Gt a−1. WA subsidence is attributed to low mantle viscosity with faster responses to post-LGM deglaciation and to ice growth during Holocene grounding-line readvance. EA subsidence is attributed to Holocene dynamic thickening. With Antarctic Peninsula loss of −26 Gt a−1, the Antarctic total gain is 95 ± 25 Gt a−1 during 2003–08, compared to 144 ± 61 Gt a−1 from ERS1/2 during 1992–2001. Beginning in 2009, large increases in coastal WA dynamic losses overcame long-term EA and inland WA gains bringing Antarctica close to balance at −12 ± 64 Gt a−1 by 2012–16.

Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 217
Author(s):  
Jiangping Zhu ◽  
Aihong Xie ◽  
Xiang Qin ◽  
Yetang Wang ◽  
Bing Xu ◽  
...  

The European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) released its latest reanalysis dataset named ERA5 in 2017. To assess the performance of ERA5 in Antarctica, we compare the near-surface temperature data from ERA5 and ERA-Interim with the measured data from 41 weather stations. ERA5 has a strong linear relationship with monthly observations, and the statistical significant correlation coefficients (p < 0.05) are higher than 0.95 at all stations selected. The performance of ERA5 shows regional differences, and the correlations are high in West Antarctica and low in East Antarctica. Compared with ERA5, ERA-Interim has a slightly higher linear relationship with observations in the Antarctic Peninsula. ERA5 agrees well with the temperature observations in austral spring, with significant correlation coefficients higher than 0.90 and bias lower than 0.70 °C. The temperature trend from ERA5 is consistent with that from observations, in which a cooling trend dominates East Antarctica and West Antarctica, while a warming trend exists in the Antarctic Peninsula except during austral summer. Generally, ERA5 can effectively represent the temperature changes in Antarctica and its three subregions. Although ERA5 has bias, ERA5 can play an important role as a powerful tool to explore the climate change in Antarctica with sparse in situ observations.


2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 468-483 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.M. Lovell ◽  
C.R. Stokes ◽  
S.S.R. Jamieson

AbstractRecent work has highlighted the sensitivity of marine-terminating glaciers to decadal-scale changes in the ocean–climate system in parts of East Antarctica. However, compared to Greenland, West Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula, little is known about recent glacier change and potential cause(s), with several regions yet to be studied in detail. In this paper, we map the terminus positions of 135 glaciers along the coastline of Victoria Land, Oates Land and George V Land from 1972–2013 at a higher temporal resolution (sub-decadal intervals) than in previous research. These three regions span a range of climatic and oceanic conditions and contain a variety of glacier types. Overall, from 1972–2013, 36% of glaciers advanced, 25% retreated and the remainder showed no discernible change. On sub-decadal timescales, there were no clear trends in glacier terminus position change. However, marine-terminating glaciers experienced larger terminus position changes compared with terrestrial glaciers, and those with an unconstrained floating tongue exhibited the largest variations. We conclude that, unlike in Greenland, West Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula, there is no clear glacier retreat in the study area and that most of the variations are more closely linked to glacier size and terminus type.


Author(s):  
Eric Rignot

The concept that the Antarctic ice sheet changes with eternal slowness has been challenged by recent observations from satellites. Pronounced regional warming in the Antarctic Peninsula triggered ice shelf collapse, which led to a 10-fold increase in glacier flow and rapid ice sheet retreat. This chain of events illustrated the vulnerability of ice shelves to climate warming and their buffering role on the mass balance of Antarctica. In West Antarctica, the Pine Island Bay sector is draining far more ice into the ocean than is stored upstream from snow accumulation. This sector could raise sea level by 1 m and trigger widespread retreat of ice in West Antarctica. Pine Island Glacier accelerated 38% since 1975, and most of the speed up took place over the last decade. Its neighbour Thwaites Glacier is widening up and may double its width when its weakened eastern ice shelf breaks up. Widespread acceleration in this sector may be caused by glacier ungrounding from ice shelf melting by an ocean that has recently warmed by 0.3 °C. In contrast, glaciers buffered from oceanic change by large ice shelves have only small contributions to sea level. In East Antarctica, many glaciers are close to a state of mass balance, but sectors grounded well below sea level, such as Cook Ice Shelf, Ninnis/Mertz, Frost and Totten glaciers, are thinning and losing mass. Hence, East Antarctica is not immune to changes.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas Wiens ◽  
Andrew Lloyd ◽  
Weisen Shen ◽  
Andrew Nyblade ◽  
Richard Aster ◽  
...  

&lt;p&gt;Upper mantle viscosity structure and lithospheric thickness control the solid Earth response to variations in ice sheet loading. These parameters vary significantly across Antarctica, leading to strong regional differences in the timescale of glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA), with important implications for ice sheet models. &amp;#160;We estimate upper mantle viscosity structure and lithospheric thickness using two new seismic models for Antarctica, which take advantage of temporary broadband seismic stations deployed across Antarctica over the past 18 years. Shen et al. [2018] use receiver functions and Rayleigh wave velocities from earthquakes and ambient noise to develop a higher resolution model for the upper 200 km beneath Central and West Antarctica, where most of the seismic stations have been deployed. Lloyd et al [2019] use full waveform adjoint tomography to invert three-component earthquake seismograms for a radially anisotropic model covering Antarctica and adjacent oceanic regions to 800 km depth. We estimate the mantle viscosity structure from seismic structure using laboratory-derived relationships between seismic velocity, temperature, and rheology. Choice of parameters for this mapping is guided in part by recent regional estimates of mantle viscosity from geodetic measurements. We also describe and compare several different methods of estimating lithospheric thickness from seismic constraints.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The mantle viscosity estimates indicate regional variations of several orders of magnitude, with extremely low viscosity (&lt; 10&lt;sup&gt;19&lt;/sup&gt; Pa s) beneath the Amundsen Sea Embayment (ASE) and the Antarctic Peninsula, consistent with estimates from GIA models constrained by GPS data. &amp;#160;Lithospheric thickness is also highly variable, ranging from around 60 km in parts of West Antarctica to greater than 200 km beneath central East Antarctica. In East Antarctica, several prominent regions such as Dronning Maude Land and the Lambert Graben show much thinner lithosphere, consistent with Phanerozoic tectonic activity and lithospheric disruption. Thin lithosphere and low viscosity between the ASE and the Antarctic Peninsula likely result from the thermal effects of the slab window as the Phoenix-Antarctic plate boundary migrated northward during the Cenozoic. Low viscosity regions beneath the ASE and Marie Byrd Land coast connect to an offshore anomaly at depths of ~ 250 km, suggesting larger-scale thermal and geodynamic processes that may be linked to the initial Cretaceous rifting of New Zealand and Antarctica. Low mantle viscosity results in a characteristic GIA time scale on the order of several hundred years, such that isostatic adjustment occurs on the same time scale as grounding line retreat.&amp;#160; Thus the associated rebound may lessen the effect of the marine ice sheet instability proposed for the ASE region.&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;


2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (10) ◽  
pp. 3865-3874 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan L. Fogt ◽  
Logan N. Clark ◽  
Julien P. Nicolas

This study presents a new monthly pressure dataset poleward of 60°S, from 1957 to 2016, based on a kriging interpolation from observed pressure anomalies across the Antarctic continent. Overall, the reconstruction performs well when evaluated against ERA-Interim. In comparison to other reanalyses, the reconstruction has interannual variability after 1970 similar to products that span the entire twentieth century and is a marked improvement on the first-generation reanalysis products. The reconstruction also produces weaker pressure trends than the reanalysis products evaluated here, which are consistent with observations. However, the skill of the reconstruction is weaker in the South Pacific and therefore does not improve the understanding of long-term pressure variability and trends in this region, where circulation changes have been key drivers of climate variability in West Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula.


2022 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 391
Author(s):  
Derui Xu ◽  
Xueyuan Tang ◽  
Shuhu Yang ◽  
Yun Zhang ◽  
Lijuan Wang ◽  
...  

Due to rapid global warming, the relationship between the mass loss of the Antarctic ice sheet and rising sea levels are attracting widespread attention. The Lambert–Amery glacial system is the largest drainage system in East Antarctica, and its mass balance has an important influence on the stability of the Antarctic ice sheet. In this paper, the recent ice flux in the Lambert Glacier of the Lambert–Amery system was systematically analyzed based on recently updated remote sensing data. According to Landsat-8 ice velocity data from 2018 to April 2019 and the updated Bedmachine v2 ice thickness dataset in 2021, the contribution of ice flux approximately 140 km downstream from Dome A in the Lambert Glacier area to downstream from the glacier is 8.5 ± 1.9, and the ice flux in the middle of the convergence region is 18.9 ± 2.9. The ice mass input into the Amery ice shelf through the grounding line of the whole glacier is 19.9 ± 1.3. The ice flux output from the mainstream area of the grounding line is 19.3 ± 1.0. Using the annual SMB data of the regional atmospheric climate model (RACMO v2.3) as the quality input, the mass balance of the upper, middle, and lower reaches of the Lambert Glacier was analyzed. The results show that recent positive accumulation appears in the middle region of the glacier (about 74–78°S, 67–85°E) and the net accumulation of the whole glacier is 2.4 ± 3.5. Although the mass balance of the Lambert Glacier continues to show a positive accumulation, and the positive value in the region is decreasing compared with values obtained in early 2000.


2020 ◽  
pp. 68-74
Author(s):  
O. Savenko ◽  
◽  

Antarctic Peninsula region is experiencing one of the fastest rates of climate change on Earth. Its waters are known as important feeding grounds for the Antarctic minke whales (Balaenoptera bonaerensis). The purpose of the present study was to reveal the summer and early autumn presence of the Antarctic minke whales in the area adjacent to the Kiev Peninsula of West Antarctica and to estimate the encounter rates of the species in the area. The boat-based photo-identification cetacean studies were initiated as part of the long-term monitoring program based at the Akademik Vernadsky station near the Kiev Peninsula of West Antarctica. From 22 January to 7 April 2019, 35 boat and yacht cruises of the 821 nautical miles of total length were conducted. There were encountered 13 Antarctic minke whales in 7 sightings. The encounter rate was 0.015 whales per nautical mile. Minke whales were encountered only in 5% of the total sightings. Three more whales were opportunistically seen from the top of Galindez Island. There were single whales sighted and small groups of up to 3 specimens (Med = 2). At least 2 individuals were identified as juveniles. Primary behavior for whales in 7 sightings was foraging, and 2 groups were observed while travelling. A total 9 individuals of the Antarctic minke whales were photo-identified during the survey, and no matches were found between the different encounters. Our pilot study indicates summer and early autumn presence of the Antarctic minke whales in the area adjacent to the Kiev Peninsula. But encounter rates seem to be low in comparison with results of some previous surveys. Our results show the possibility to monitor minke whales in the area, and further long-term complex monitoring is essential for understanding the ecology and population dynamics of the Antarctic minke whales in rapidly changing marine environment of the Antarctic Peninsula.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun'ichi Okuno ◽  
Akihisa Hattori ◽  
Takeshige Ishiwa ◽  
Yoshiya Irie ◽  
Koichiro Doi

&lt;p&gt;Geodetic and geomorphological observations in the Antarctic coastal area generally indicate the uplift trend associated with the Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) change since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). The melting models of AIS derived from the comparisons between sea-level and geodetic observations and glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) modeling show the monotonous retreat through the Holocene era (e.g., Whitehouse et al., 2012,&amp;#160;&lt;em&gt;QSR&lt;/em&gt;; Stuhne and Peltier, 2015,&amp;#160;&lt;em&gt;JGR&lt;/em&gt;). However, the observed crustal motion by GNSS in some regions of Antarctica cannot be explained as the deformation rates by only glacial rebound due to the last deglaciation of AIS (e.g., Bradley et al., 2015,&amp;#160;&lt;em&gt;EPSL&lt;/em&gt;). One reason for this mismatch is considered as the control of the uplift induced by the re-advance of AIS following a post-LGM maximum retreat, which was recently reported as the West AIS re-advance in the Ross and the Weddell Sea sectors (e.g., Kingslake et al., 2018,&amp;#160;&lt;em&gt;Nature&lt;/em&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, the current crustal motion includes the elastic GIA component due to the present-day surface mass balance of AIS. To reveal the secular crustal movement induced by GIA, the separation of the elastic deformation induced by the current mass balance using GRACE data is essential. In the L&amp;#252;tzow-Holm Bay, East Antarctica, GNSS observations have been carried out at several sites on the outcrop rocks since the 1990s to monitor recent crustal movements. Hattori et al. (2019, &lt;em&gt;SCAR&lt;/em&gt;) precisely analyzed the GNSS data obtained from this area, which revealed the secular crustal movement by correcting the elastic deformation due to current mass balance. The results indicated the mismatch between secular current crustal motion and GIA calculations based on the previously published ice and viscosity models. Consequently, to represent the observed crustal deformation rates based on the GIA modeling, we must carefully investigate the numerical dependencies of various parameters such as local and global ice history in the AIS.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Recently, the study of glacial geomorphology and surface exposure dating (Kawamata et al., 2020,&amp;#160;&lt;em&gt;QSR&lt;/em&gt;) has suggested that the abrupt ice thinning and retreat occurred in Skarvsnes, located at the middle of the L&amp;#252;tzow-Holm Bay, during 9 to 6 ka. We obtained the preliminary results related to the GIA effects induced by the abrupt thinning on the geodetic observations in this area. The numerical simulations that we examined are employed for a simple ice model with the thickness change by 400 m during 9 to 6 ka in this area based on the IJ05_R2 model grids (Ivins et al., 2013,&amp;#160;&lt;em&gt;JGR&lt;/em&gt;). The predictions based on the high-viscosity upper mantle (5x10&lt;sup&gt;20&lt;/sup&gt; Pa s) show high uplift rates (~ +4.0 mm/yr), whereas the calculated uplift rates for the weaker viscosity (2x10&lt;sup&gt;20&lt;/sup&gt; Pa s) show low value (~ +1.0 mm/yr). These results suggest that the viscoelastic relaxation due to the abrupt ice thinning in the mid-to-late Holocene may influence the current crustal motion and highly depend on the upper mantle viscosity profile. We will discuss the influences on the GIA-calculated crustal movement by AIS retreat history and mantle viscosity structure.&lt;/p&gt;


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Violaine Coulon ◽  
Kevin Bulthuis ◽  
Pippa Whitehouse ◽  
Sainan Sun ◽  
Frank Pattyn

&lt;p&gt;Projections of the contribution of the Antarctic ice sheet to future sea-level rise remain highly uncertain, especially on long timescales. One of the reasons for this uncertainty lies in the uncertainty in the intensity of the feedbacks of glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA; i.e. the combination of bedrock adjustment and gravitationally-consistent sea-surface changes due to ice mass changes) on ice-sheet evolution. Indeed, the Antarctic ice sheet lies on a solid Earth that displays large spatial variations in rheological properties, with a thin lithosphere and low-viscosity upper mantle beneath West Antarctica and an opposing structure beneath East Antarctica (Morelli &amp; Danesi, 2004; Lloyd et al., 2020). In addition to this West-East dichotomy, strong viscoelastic heterogeneities (sometimes by several orders of magnitude across relatively short spatial scales) exist within the East and West Antarctic regions (An et al., 2015). These lateral variations are known to have a significant impact on the ice-sheet grounding-line stability (Gomez et al., 2015; Konrad et al., 2015). However, large uncertainties remain in determining these viscoelastic properties with precision.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Here, we investigate the influence of GIA feedbacks on the uncertainty in assessing the long-term contribution of the Antarctic ice sheet to future sea-level rise (SLR). In this framework, we design an ensemble approach, taking advantage of the computational efficiency of the Elementary GIA model (Coulon et al., under review). The latter consists of a modified Elastic Lithosphere&amp;#8212;Relaxing Asthenosphere model able to consider spatially-varying viscoelastic properties supplemented with an approximation of gravitationally-consistent geoid changes, allowing to approximate near-field relative sea-level changes. Using existing upper-mantle viscosity and lithosphere thickness maps, we produce a large range of plausible Antarctic viscoelastic properties by varying the level of lateral variability in the associated relaxation time and flexural rigidity. We thereby take into account (i) the important lateral variations in rheological properties observed beneath the Antarctic ice sheet as well as (ii) the strong uncertainty characterizing the estimation of Antarctic solid Earth properties. We investigate the potential stabilizing role of GIA effects as well as their influence on multi-centennial to multi-millenial SLR. In addition, we investigate whether GIA feedbacks are able to stabilize the Antarctic ice sheet on short or longer timescales for strong and intermediate mitigation climate scenarios. Preliminary results (Coulon et al., under review) show that the weak Earth structure observed beneath West Antarctica plays a significant role in promoting the stability of the West Antarctic ice sheet (WAIS). However, WAIS collapse cannot be prevented under high-emissions climate scenarios. The highest uncertainty arises from the East Antarctic ice sheet (EAIS) where ice retreat in the Aurora Basin is highly dependent on mantle viscosity.&lt;/p&gt;


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Chuter ◽  
Jonathan Rougier ◽  
Geoffrey Dawson ◽  
Jonathan Bamber

&lt;p&gt;Long-term continuous monitoring of Antarctic Ice Sheet mass balance is imperative to better understand its multi-decadal response to changes in climate and ocean forcing. Additionally, more accurate knowledge of contemporaneous mass balance is key for improved parameterisations in ice sheet models. The Antarctic Peninsula has undergone rapid changes in mass balance and ice dynamics over the last two decades, with satellite observations showing the presence of grounding line retreat and increases in ice sheet velocity. This is particularly the case after the collapse of the Larsen A and B ice shelves in 1995 and 2002, and more recently the glaciers draining the southern Antarctic Peninsula. As a result, this region provides analogues for future ice sheet response to ice shelf collapse in other regions of Antarctica.&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Despite the region&amp;#8217;s importance to understanding ice sheet dynamics, it is challenging to accurately assess mass balance due its geometry and mountainous topography. Conventional pulse-limited altimetry suffers from poor coverage and data loss over steep mountainous terrain, particularly before the launch of CryoSat-2 in 2010. In the case of gravimetry, the geometry of the region means the coarse spatial resolution of the GRACE mission (~300 km) cannot resolve small spatial scale glacier changes (particularly over northern Antarctic Peninsula) and suffers from signal leakage into the ocean. For the mass budget approach, the challenge of accurately modelling surface mass balance over the region&amp;#8217;s mountainous topography coupled with the sparsity of ice thickness observations at the grounding line for many sectors can result in large uncertainties. As a result, it can be difficult to reconcile the results from different conventional approaches in this region.&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;To resolve this, we have developed and optimised the BHM framework used previously over the Antarctic Ice Sheet to specifically investigate the Antarctic Peninsula. This enables each latent process driving ice sheet mass change to be resolved at a higher spatial resolution compared to previous implementations across Antarctica as a whole. The new regional solution also incorporates more recent and higher resolution observations including: CryoSat-2 swath altimetry, stereo-image DEM differencing and NASA Operation Ice Bridge laser altimetry elevation rates. This is the first time such a range of observations of varying spatio-temporal resolutions will be combined into one assessment for the region. We will present results from the regionally optimised model from 2003 until present, including basin-scale mass trends and changes in spatial latent processes at an annual resolution. Additionally, we will discuss future opportunities, such as extending the record from this approach into the next decade and further understanding of the GIA response in this region.&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;


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