Improved ice loss estimate of the northwestern Greenland Ice Sheet

Kristian Kjellerup Kjeldsen; Shfaqat Abbas Khan; John Wahr; Niels Jákup Korsgaard; Kurt H. Kjær; Anders Anker Bjørk; Ruud Hurkmans; Michiel R. van den Broeke; Jonathan L Bamber; Jan H. van Angelen

doi:10.1029/2012jb009684

Improved ice loss estimate of the northwestern Greenland Ice Sheet

Kristian Kjellerup Kjeldsen, Shfaqat Abbas Khan, John Wahr, Niels Jákup Korsgaard, Kurt H. Kjær, Anders Anker Bjørk, Ruud Hurkmans, Michiel R. van den Broeke, Jonathan L Bamber, Jan H. van Angelen

22 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We estimate ice volume change rates in the northwest Greenland drainage basin during 2003-2009 using Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) laser altimeter data. Elevation changes are often reported to be largest near the frontal portion of outlet glaciers. To improve the volume change estimate, we supplement the ICESat data with altimeter surveys from NASA's Airborne Topographic Mapper from 2002 to 2010 and NASA's Land, Vegetation and Ice Sensor from 2010. The Airborne data are mainly concentrated along the ice margin and thus have a significant impact on the estimate of the volume change. Our results show that adding Airborne Topographic Mapper and Land, Vegetation and Ice Sensor data to the ICESat data increases the catchment-wide estimate of ice volume loss by 11%, mainly due to an improved volume loss estimate along the ice sheet margin. Furthermore, our results show a significant acceleration in mass loss at elevations above 1200 m. Both the improved mass loss estimate along the ice sheet margin and the acceleration at higher elevations have implications for predictions of the elastic adjustment of the lithosphere caused by present-day ice mass changes. Our study shows that the use of ICESat data alone to predict elastic uplift rates biases the predicted rates by several millimeters per year at GPS locations along the northwestern coast.

Original language	English
Journal	Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth
Volume	118
Issue number	2
Pages (from-to)	698–708
Number of pages	11
ISSN	2169-9313
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1029/2012jb009684
Publication status	Published - 1 Feb 2013

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title = "Improved ice loss estimate of the northwestern Greenland Ice Sheet",

abstract = "We estimate ice volume change rates in the northwest Greenland drainage basin during 2003-2009 using Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) laser altimeter data. Elevation changes are often reported to be largest near the frontal portion of outlet glaciers. To improve the volume change estimate, we supplement the ICESat data with altimeter surveys from NASA's Airborne Topographic Mapper from 2002 to 2010 and NASA's Land, Vegetation and Ice Sensor from 2010. The Airborne data are mainly concentrated along the ice margin and thus have a significant impact on the estimate of the volume change. Our results show that adding Airborne Topographic Mapper and Land, Vegetation and Ice Sensor data to the ICESat data increases the catchment-wide estimate of ice volume loss by 11%, mainly due to an improved volume loss estimate along the ice sheet margin. Furthermore, our results show a significant acceleration in mass loss at elevations above 1200 m. Both the improved mass loss estimate along the ice sheet margin and the acceleration at higher elevations have implications for predictions of the elastic adjustment of the lithosphere caused by present-day ice mass changes. Our study shows that the use of ICESat data alone to predict elastic uplift rates biases the predicted rates by several millimeters per year at GPS locations along the northwestern coast.",

author = "Kjeldsen, {Kristian Kjellerup} and Khan, {Shfaqat Abbas} and John Wahr and Korsgaard, {Niels J{\'a}kup} and Kj{\ae}r, {Kurt H.} and Bj{\o}rk, {Anders Anker} and Ruud Hurkmans and {van den Broeke}, {Michiel R.} and Bamber, {Jonathan L} and {van Angelen}, {Jan H.}",

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doi = "10.1029/2012jb009684",

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T1 - Improved ice loss estimate of the northwestern Greenland Ice Sheet

AU - Kjeldsen, Kristian Kjellerup

AU - Khan, Shfaqat Abbas

AU - Wahr, John

AU - Korsgaard, Niels Jákup

AU - Kjær, Kurt H.

AU - Bjørk, Anders Anker

AU - Hurkmans, Ruud

AU - van den Broeke, Michiel R.

AU - Bamber, Jonathan L

AU - van Angelen, Jan H.

PY - 2013/2/1

Y1 - 2013/2/1

N2 - We estimate ice volume change rates in the northwest Greenland drainage basin during 2003-2009 using Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) laser altimeter data. Elevation changes are often reported to be largest near the frontal portion of outlet glaciers. To improve the volume change estimate, we supplement the ICESat data with altimeter surveys from NASA's Airborne Topographic Mapper from 2002 to 2010 and NASA's Land, Vegetation and Ice Sensor from 2010. The Airborne data are mainly concentrated along the ice margin and thus have a significant impact on the estimate of the volume change. Our results show that adding Airborne Topographic Mapper and Land, Vegetation and Ice Sensor data to the ICESat data increases the catchment-wide estimate of ice volume loss by 11%, mainly due to an improved volume loss estimate along the ice sheet margin. Furthermore, our results show a significant acceleration in mass loss at elevations above 1200 m. Both the improved mass loss estimate along the ice sheet margin and the acceleration at higher elevations have implications for predictions of the elastic adjustment of the lithosphere caused by present-day ice mass changes. Our study shows that the use of ICESat data alone to predict elastic uplift rates biases the predicted rates by several millimeters per year at GPS locations along the northwestern coast.

AB - We estimate ice volume change rates in the northwest Greenland drainage basin during 2003-2009 using Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) laser altimeter data. Elevation changes are often reported to be largest near the frontal portion of outlet glaciers. To improve the volume change estimate, we supplement the ICESat data with altimeter surveys from NASA's Airborne Topographic Mapper from 2002 to 2010 and NASA's Land, Vegetation and Ice Sensor from 2010. The Airborne data are mainly concentrated along the ice margin and thus have a significant impact on the estimate of the volume change. Our results show that adding Airborne Topographic Mapper and Land, Vegetation and Ice Sensor data to the ICESat data increases the catchment-wide estimate of ice volume loss by 11%, mainly due to an improved volume loss estimate along the ice sheet margin. Furthermore, our results show a significant acceleration in mass loss at elevations above 1200 m. Both the improved mass loss estimate along the ice sheet margin and the acceleration at higher elevations have implications for predictions of the elastic adjustment of the lithosphere caused by present-day ice mass changes. Our study shows that the use of ICESat data alone to predict elastic uplift rates biases the predicted rates by several millimeters per year at GPS locations along the northwestern coast.

U2 - 10.1029/2012jb009684

DO - 10.1029/2012jb009684

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0148-0227

VL - 118

SP - 698

EP - 708

JO - Journal of Geophysical Research

JF - Journal of Geophysical Research

IS - 2

ER -

Improved ice loss estimate of the northwestern Greenland Ice Sheet

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