Four decades of Antarctic surface elevation changes from multi-mission satellite altimetry

<p>We developed a multi-mission satellite altimetry analysis over the Antarctic Ice Sheet which comprises Seasat, Geosat, ERS-1, ERS-2, Envisat, ICESat and CryoSat-2. After a consistent reprocessing and a stepwise calibration of the inter-mission offsets, we obtained monthly grids of multi-mis...

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Main Authors: L. Schröder, M. Horwath, R. Dietrich, V. Helm, M. R. van den Broeke, S. R. M. Ligtenberg
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Copernicus Publications 2019-02-01
Series:The Cryosphere
Online Access:https://www.the-cryosphere.net/13/427/2019/tc-13-427-2019.pdf
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author L. Schröder
L. Schröder
M. Horwath
R. Dietrich
V. Helm
M. R. van den Broeke
S. R. M. Ligtenberg
author_facet L. Schröder
L. Schröder
M. Horwath
R. Dietrich
V. Helm
M. R. van den Broeke
S. R. M. Ligtenberg
author_sort L. Schröder
collection DOAJ
description <p>We developed a multi-mission satellite altimetry analysis over the Antarctic Ice Sheet which comprises Seasat, Geosat, ERS-1, ERS-2, Envisat, ICESat and CryoSat-2. After a consistent reprocessing and a stepwise calibration of the inter-mission offsets, we obtained monthly grids of multi-mission surface elevation change (SEC) with respect to the reference epoch 09/2010 (in the format of month/year) from 1978 to 2017. A validation with independent elevation changes from in situ and airborne observations as well as a comparison with a firn model proves that the different missions and observation modes have been successfully combined to a seamless multi-mission time series. For coastal East Antarctica, even Seasat and Geosat provide reliable information and, hence, allow for the analysis of four decades of elevation changes. The spatial and temporal resolution of our result allows for the identification of when and where significant changes in elevation occurred. These time series add detailed information to the evolution of surface elevation in such key regions as Pine Island Glacier, Totten Glacier, Dronning Maud Land or Lake Vostok. After applying a density mask, we calculated time series of mass changes and found that the Antarctic Ice Sheet north of 81.5<span class="inline-formula"><sup>∘</sup></span>&thinsp;S was losing mass at an average rate of <span class="inline-formula"><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M2" display="inline" overflow="scroll" dspmath="mathml"><mrow><mo>-</mo><mn mathvariant="normal">85</mn><mo>±</mo><mn mathvariant="normal">16</mn></mrow></math><span><svg:svg xmlns:svg="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="46pt" height="10pt" class="svg-formula" dspmath="mathimg" md5hash="51341af97eb1b7f9a390e89353c0da64"><svg:image xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="tc-13-427-2019-ie00001.svg" width="46pt" height="10pt" src="tc-13-427-2019-ie00001.png"/></svg:svg></span></span>&thinsp;Gt&thinsp;yr<span class="inline-formula"><sup>−1</sup></span> between 1992 and 2017, which accelerated to <span class="inline-formula"><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M4" display="inline" overflow="scroll" dspmath="mathml"><mrow><mo>-</mo><mn mathvariant="normal">137</mn><mo>±</mo><mn mathvariant="normal">25</mn></mrow></math><span><svg:svg xmlns:svg="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="52pt" height="10pt" class="svg-formula" dspmath="mathimg" md5hash="5fe80869220ed8da3639b6da27b5db8d"><svg:image xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="tc-13-427-2019-ie00002.svg" width="52pt" height="10pt" src="tc-13-427-2019-ie00002.png"/></svg:svg></span></span>&thinsp;Gt&thinsp;yr<span class="inline-formula"><sup>−1</sup></span> after 2010.</p>
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spelling doaj.art-0ca9acb2cd0446fa87e5d1b72bed9ca62022-12-22T03:14:42ZengCopernicus PublicationsThe Cryosphere1994-04161994-04242019-02-011342744910.5194/tc-13-427-2019Four decades of Antarctic surface elevation changes from multi-mission satellite altimetryL. Schröder0L. Schröder1M. Horwath2R. Dietrich3V. Helm4M. R. van den Broeke5S. R. M. Ligtenberg6Technische Universität Dresden, Institut für Planetare Geodäsie, Dresden, GermanyAlfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, GermanyTechnische Universität Dresden, Institut für Planetare Geodäsie, Dresden, GermanyTechnische Universität Dresden, Institut für Planetare Geodäsie, Dresden, GermanyAlfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, GermanyInstitute for Marine and Atmospheric Research Utrecht, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the NetherlandsInstitute for Marine and Atmospheric Research Utrecht, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands<p>We developed a multi-mission satellite altimetry analysis over the Antarctic Ice Sheet which comprises Seasat, Geosat, ERS-1, ERS-2, Envisat, ICESat and CryoSat-2. After a consistent reprocessing and a stepwise calibration of the inter-mission offsets, we obtained monthly grids of multi-mission surface elevation change (SEC) with respect to the reference epoch 09/2010 (in the format of month/year) from 1978 to 2017. A validation with independent elevation changes from in situ and airborne observations as well as a comparison with a firn model proves that the different missions and observation modes have been successfully combined to a seamless multi-mission time series. For coastal East Antarctica, even Seasat and Geosat provide reliable information and, hence, allow for the analysis of four decades of elevation changes. The spatial and temporal resolution of our result allows for the identification of when and where significant changes in elevation occurred. These time series add detailed information to the evolution of surface elevation in such key regions as Pine Island Glacier, Totten Glacier, Dronning Maud Land or Lake Vostok. After applying a density mask, we calculated time series of mass changes and found that the Antarctic Ice Sheet north of 81.5<span class="inline-formula"><sup>∘</sup></span>&thinsp;S was losing mass at an average rate of <span class="inline-formula"><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M2" display="inline" overflow="scroll" dspmath="mathml"><mrow><mo>-</mo><mn mathvariant="normal">85</mn><mo>±</mo><mn mathvariant="normal">16</mn></mrow></math><span><svg:svg xmlns:svg="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="46pt" height="10pt" class="svg-formula" dspmath="mathimg" md5hash="51341af97eb1b7f9a390e89353c0da64"><svg:image xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="tc-13-427-2019-ie00001.svg" width="46pt" height="10pt" src="tc-13-427-2019-ie00001.png"/></svg:svg></span></span>&thinsp;Gt&thinsp;yr<span class="inline-formula"><sup>−1</sup></span> between 1992 and 2017, which accelerated to <span class="inline-formula"><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M4" display="inline" overflow="scroll" dspmath="mathml"><mrow><mo>-</mo><mn mathvariant="normal">137</mn><mo>±</mo><mn mathvariant="normal">25</mn></mrow></math><span><svg:svg xmlns:svg="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="52pt" height="10pt" class="svg-formula" dspmath="mathimg" md5hash="5fe80869220ed8da3639b6da27b5db8d"><svg:image xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="tc-13-427-2019-ie00002.svg" width="52pt" height="10pt" src="tc-13-427-2019-ie00002.png"/></svg:svg></span></span>&thinsp;Gt&thinsp;yr<span class="inline-formula"><sup>−1</sup></span> after 2010.</p>https://www.the-cryosphere.net/13/427/2019/tc-13-427-2019.pdf
spellingShingle L. Schröder
L. Schröder
M. Horwath
R. Dietrich
V. Helm
M. R. van den Broeke
S. R. M. Ligtenberg
Four decades of Antarctic surface elevation changes from multi-mission satellite altimetry
The Cryosphere
title Four decades of Antarctic surface elevation changes from multi-mission satellite altimetry
title_full Four decades of Antarctic surface elevation changes from multi-mission satellite altimetry
title_fullStr Four decades of Antarctic surface elevation changes from multi-mission satellite altimetry
title_full_unstemmed Four decades of Antarctic surface elevation changes from multi-mission satellite altimetry
title_short Four decades of Antarctic surface elevation changes from multi-mission satellite altimetry
title_sort four decades of antarctic surface elevation changes from multi mission satellite altimetry
url https://www.the-cryosphere.net/13/427/2019/tc-13-427-2019.pdf
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