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Constraining the mass balance of East Antarctica
Author(s) -
MartinEspañol Alba,
Bamber Jonathan L.,
ZammitMangion Andrew
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2017gl072937
Subject(s) - post glacial rebound , geology , glacier mass balance , balance (ability) , future sea level , gravimetry , ice sheet , ice stream , climatology , geodesy , glacier , cryosphere , geomorphology , sea ice , medicine , physical medicine and rehabilitation , geotechnical engineering , reservoir modeling
We investigate the mass balance of East Antarctica for the period 2003–2013 using a Bayesian statistical framework. We combine satellite altimetry, gravimetry, and GPS with prior assumptions characterizing the underlying geophysical processes. We run three experiments based on two different assumptions to study possible solutions to the mass balance. We solve for trends in surface mass balance, ice dynamics, and glacial isostatic adjustment. The first assumption assigns low probability to ice dynamic mass loss in regions of slow flow, giving a mean dynamic trend of 17 ± 10 Gt yr −1 and a total mass imbalance of 57 ± 20 Gt yr −1 . The second assumption considers a long‐term dynamic thickening hypothesis and an a priori solution for surface mass balance from a regional climate model. The latter results in estimates 3 to 5 times larger for the ice dynamic trends but similar total mass imbalance. In both cases, gains in East Antarctica are smaller than losses in West Antarctica.