Continuity of ice sheet mass loss in Greenland and Antarctica from the GRACE and GRACE Follow-Onmissions

Abstract

Abstract We examine data continuity between the GRACE and GRACE-FO missions over Greenland and Antarctica using independent data from the mass budget method (MBM) which calculates the difference between ice sheet surface mass balance and ice discharge at the periphery. For both ice sheets, we find consistent GRACE/GRACE-FO time series across the data gap, at the continental and regional scales, and the data gap is confidently filled with MBM data. In Greenland, the GRACE-FO data reveal an exceptional summer loss of 600 Gigatonnes in 2019 following two cold summers. In Antarctica, ongoing high mass losses in the Amundsen Sea Embayment of West Antarctica, the Antarctic Peninsula, and Wilkes Land in East Antarctica cumulate to 2130, 560, and 370 Gigatonnes, respectively, since 2002. A cumulative mass gain of 980 Gigatonnes in Queen Maud Land since 2009, however, led to a pause in the acceleration in mass loss from Antarctica after 2016.