Arctic Ocean gravity field derived from ICESat and ERS-2 altimetry: Tectonic implications

Abstract

A new, detailed marine gravity field for the persistently ice-covered Arctic Ocean, derived entirely from satellite data, reveals important new tectonic features in both the Amerasian and Eurasian basins. Reprocessed Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) data collected by NASA's Ice Cloud and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) between 2003 and 2005 have been combined with 8 years worth of retracked radar altimeter data from ESA's ERS-2 satellite to produce the highest available resolution gravity mapping of the entire Arctic Ocean complete to 86°N. This ARCtic Satellite-only (ARCS) marine gravity field uniformly and confidently resolves marine gravity to wavelengths as short as 35 km. ARCS relies on a Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE)-only satellite gravity model at long (>580 km) wavelengths and plainly shows tectonic fabric and numerous details imprinted in the Arctic seafloor, in particular, in the enigmatic Amerasian Basin (AB). For example, in the Makarov Basin portion of the AB, two north-south trending lineations are likely clues to the highly uncertain seafloor spreading history which formed the AB. Copyright 2008 by the American Geophysical Union.