Narrowing the gap: A consensus estimate of glacier mass wastage for 2003-09
Abstract
Mass wasting of glaciers outside of the ice sheets contributes greatly to present rates of sea level rise. There is however a large disagreement between recent global estimates derived from satellite gravimetry (Jacob et al., 2012) and those derived from the interpolation of local-scale mass balance and geodetic measurements (Cogley et al, 2009). Adding to this uncertainty are poorly constrained estimates of mass changes of the peripheral glaciers surrounding the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets. Here we compare alternative estimates of regional glacier mass changes for 19 glacierized regions and derive new estimates for the peripheral glaciers of Greenland and Antarctica using ICESat. We identify uncertainties and potential biases in existing global assessments and show how the large gap between them can be narrowed by combining results from the best available techniques in each glacier region.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2012
- Bibcode:
- 2012AGUFM.C53B0848G
- Keywords:
-
- 0720 CRYOSPHERE / Glaciers;
- 0762 CRYOSPHERE / Mass balance;
- 1621 GLOBAL CHANGE / Cryospheric change;
- 1641 GLOBAL CHANGE / Sea level change