Premium
Rapid ice discharge from southeast Greenland glaciers
Author(s) -
Rignot E.,
Braaten D.,
Gogineni S. P.,
Krabill W. B.,
McConnell J. R.
Publication year - 2004
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 - 10.1029/2004gl019474
Subject(s) - glacier , geology , snow , glacier mass balance , groenlandia , cryosphere , glacier morphology , depth sounding , physical geography , ice stream , ice sheet , climatology , oceanography , sea ice , geomorphology , geography
Interferometric synthetic‐aperture radar (InSAR) observations of southeast Greenland glaciers acquired by the Earth Remote Sensing Satellites (ERS‐1/2) in 1996 were combined with ice sounding radar data collected in the late 1990s to estimate a total discharge of 46 ± 3 km 3 ice per year between 62°N and 66°N, which is significantly lower than a mass input of 29 ± 3 km 3 ice per year calculated from a recent compilation of snow accumulation data. Further north, Helheim Glacier discharges 23 ± 1 km 3 /yr vs 30 ± 3 km 3 /yr accumulation; Kangerdlugssuaq Glacier discharges 29 ± 2 km 3 /yr vs 23 ± 2 km 3 /yr; and Daugaard‐Jensen Glacier discharges 10.5 ± 0.6 km 3 /yr vs 10.5 ± 1 km 3 /yr. The mass balance of east Greenland glaciers is therefore dominated by the negative mass balance of southeast Greenland glaciers (−17 ± 4 km 3 /yr), equivalent to a sea level rise of 0.04 ± 0.01 mm/yr. Warmer and drier conditions cannot explain the imbalance which we attribute to long‐term changes in ice dynamics.