Four decades of Antarctic Ice Sheet mass balance from 1979-2017

We use updated drainage inventory, ice thickness, and ice velocity data to calculate the grounding line ice discharge of 176 basins draining the Antarctic Ice Sheet from 1979 to 2017. We compare the results with a surface mass balance model to deduce the ice sheet mass balance. The total mass loss i...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 116; no. 4; p. 1095
Main Authors: Rignot, Eric, Mouginot, Jérémie, Scheuchl, Bernd, van den Broeke, Michiel, van Wessem, Melchior J, Morlighem, Mathieu
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States 22.01.2019
Subjects:
glaciology
remote sensing
Antarctica
sea-level rise
climate change
ISSN:1091-6490, 1091-6490
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Summary:We use updated drainage inventory, ice thickness, and ice velocity data to calculate the grounding line ice discharge of 176 basins draining the Antarctic Ice Sheet from 1979 to 2017. We compare the results with a surface mass balance model to deduce the ice sheet mass balance. The total mass loss increased from 40 ± 9 Gt/y in 1979-1990 to 50 ± 14 Gt/y in 1989-2000, 166 ± 18 Gt/y in 1999-2009, and 252 ± 26 Gt/y in 2009-2017. In 2009-2017, the mass loss was dominated by the Amundsen/Bellingshausen Sea sectors, in West Antarctica (159 ± 8 Gt/y), Wilkes Land, in East Antarctica (51 ± 13 Gt/y), and West and Northeast Peninsula (42 ± 5 Gt/y). The contribution to sea-level rise from Antarctica averaged 3.6 ± 0.5 mm per decade with a cumulative 14.0 ± 2.0 mm since 1979, including 6.9 ± 0.6 mm from West Antarctica, 4.4 ± 0.9 mm from East Antarctica, and 2.5 ± 0.4 mm from the Peninsula (i.e., East Antarctica is a major participant in the mass loss). During the entire period, the mass loss concentrated in areas closest to warm, salty, subsurface, circumpolar deep water (CDW), that is, consistent with enhanced polar westerlies pushing CDW toward Antarctica to melt its floating ice shelves, destabilize the glaciers, and raise sea level.
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ISSN:1091-6490
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.1812883116