Progressive increase in ice loss from Greenland

Abstract

Laser altimeter measurements over Greenland show increasing thickening rates above 2000 m, reflecting increasing snowfall in a warming climate. But near-coastal thinning rates have increased substantially since the mid 1990s, and net mass loss more than doubled from an average of 4-50 Gt yr-1 between 1993/4 and 1998/9 to 57-105 Gt yr-1 between 1998/9 and 2004. This increasing trend is very similar to findings from independent mass-budget studies, but differs widely from ERS radar altimeter results. This may result from limitations associated with the large ERS footprint over sloping and undulating surfaces that typify fast, narrow glaciers where thinning is most pronounced. Copyright 2006 by the American Geophysical Union.