Geodetic measurements reveal similarities between post–Last Glacial Maximum and present-day mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet
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Geodetic measurements reveal similarities between post–Last Glacial Maximum and present-day mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet. / Khan, Shfaqat A.; Sasgen, Ingo; Bevis, Michael; Dam, Tonie van; Bamber, Jonathan L.; Wahr, John; Willis, Michael; Kjær, Kurt H.; Wouters, Bert; Helm, Veit; Csatho, Bea M.; Fleming, Kevin; Bjørk, Anders Anker; Aschwanden, Andy; Knudsen, Per; Munneke, Peter Kuipers.
In: Science Advances, Vol. 2, No. 9, e1600931, 2016.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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T1 - Geodetic measurements reveal similarities between post–Last Glacial Maximum and present-day mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet
AU - Khan, Shfaqat A.
AU - Sasgen, Ingo
AU - Bevis, Michael
AU - Dam, Tonie van
AU - Bamber, Jonathan L.
AU - Wahr, John
AU - Willis, Michael
AU - Kjær, Kurt H.
AU - Wouters, Bert
AU - Helm, Veit
AU - Csatho, Bea M.
AU - Fleming, Kevin
AU - Bjørk, Anders Anker
AU - Aschwanden, Andy
AU - Knudsen, Per
AU - Munneke, Peter Kuipers
PY - 2016
Y1 - 2016
N2 - Accurate quantification of the millennial-scale mass balance of the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) and its contribution to global sea-level rise remain challenging because of sparse in situ observations in key regions. Glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) is the ongoing response of the solid Earth to ice and ocean load changes occurring since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM; ~21 thousand years ago) and may be used to constrain the GrIS deglaciation history. We use data from the Greenland Global Positioning System network to directly measure GIA and estimate basinwide mass changes since the LGM. Unpredicted, large GIA uplift rates of +12 mm/year are found in southeast Greenland. These rates are due to low upper mantle viscosity in the region, from when Greenland passed over the Iceland hot spot about 40 million years ago. This region of concentrated soft rheology has a profound influence on reconstructing the deglaciation history of Greenland. We reevaluate the evolution of the GrIS since LGM and obtain a loss of 1.5-m sea-level equivalent from the northwest and southeast. These same sectors are dominating modern mass loss. We suggest that the present destabilization of these marine-based sectors may increase sea level for centuries to come. Our new deglaciation history and GIA uplift estimates suggest that studies that use the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment satellite mission to infer present-day changes in the GrIS may have erroneously corrected for GIA and underestimated the mass loss by about 20 gigatons/year.
AB - Accurate quantification of the millennial-scale mass balance of the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) and its contribution to global sea-level rise remain challenging because of sparse in situ observations in key regions. Glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) is the ongoing response of the solid Earth to ice and ocean load changes occurring since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM; ~21 thousand years ago) and may be used to constrain the GrIS deglaciation history. We use data from the Greenland Global Positioning System network to directly measure GIA and estimate basinwide mass changes since the LGM. Unpredicted, large GIA uplift rates of +12 mm/year are found in southeast Greenland. These rates are due to low upper mantle viscosity in the region, from when Greenland passed over the Iceland hot spot about 40 million years ago. This region of concentrated soft rheology has a profound influence on reconstructing the deglaciation history of Greenland. We reevaluate the evolution of the GrIS since LGM and obtain a loss of 1.5-m sea-level equivalent from the northwest and southeast. These same sectors are dominating modern mass loss. We suggest that the present destabilization of these marine-based sectors may increase sea level for centuries to come. Our new deglaciation history and GIA uplift estimates suggest that studies that use the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment satellite mission to infer present-day changes in the GrIS may have erroneously corrected for GIA and underestimated the mass loss by about 20 gigatons/year.
U2 - 10.1126/sciadv.1600931
DO - 10.1126/sciadv.1600931
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 27679819
VL - 2
JO - Science advances
JF - Science advances
SN - 2375-2548
IS - 9
M1 - e1600931
ER -
ID: 166163512