Regional acceleration in ice mass loss from Greenland and Antarctica using GRACE time-variable gravity data

Abstract

We use Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) monthly gravity fields to determine the regional acceleration in ice mass loss in Greenland and Antarctica for 2003-2013. We find that the total mass loss is controlled by only a few regions. In Greenland, the southeast and northwest generate 70% of the loss (28058 Gt/yr) mostly from ice dynamics, the southwest accounts for 54% of the total acceleration in loss (25.41.2 Gt/yr(2)) from a decrease in surface mass balance (SMB), followed by the northwest (34%), and we find no significant acceleration in the northeast. In Antarctica, the Amundsen Sea (AS) sector and the Antarctic Peninsula account for 64% and 17%, respectively, of the total loss (18010 Gt/yr) mainly from ice dynamics. The AS sector contributes most of the acceleration in loss (114 Gt/yr(2)), and Queen Maud Land, East Antarctica, is the only sector with a significant mass gain due to a local increase in SMB (63 +/- 5 Gt/yr).