ScienceMag.org - “Recent Ice Sheet Growth in the Interior of Greenland”

This excerpt from an October 2005 scientific paper posted on ScienceMag.org shows the ice buildup in the interior of Greenland has been about 5.4 cm per year over 11 years.


“A continuous data set of Greenland Ice Sheet altimeter height from European Remote Sensing satellites (ERS-1 and ERS-2), 1992 to 2003, has been analyzed.  An increase of 6.4 ± 0.2 centimeters per year (cm/year) is found in the vast interior areas above 1500 meters, in contrast to previous reports of high-elevation balance.  Below 1500 meters, the elevation-change rate is -2.0 ± 0.9 cm/year, in qualitative agreement with reported thinning in the ice-sheet margins.  Averaged over the study area, the increase is 5.4 ± 0.2 cm/year, or ~60 cm over 11 years, or ~54 cm when corrected for isostatic uplift.  Winter elevation changes are shown to be linked to the North Atlantic Oscillation.”

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ScienceMag.org - “Large and Rapid Melt-Induced Velocity Changes in the Ablation Zone of the Greenland Ice Sheet”

This excerpt from a July 2008 scientific paper posted on ScienceMag.org shows that the ice fluctuations happening in Greenland have been relatively constant and in balance over the past 17 years.


“Continuous Global Positioning System observations reveal rapid and large ice velocity fluctuations in the western ablation zone of the Greenland Ice Sheet.  Within days, ice velocity reacts to increased meltwater production and increases by a factor of 4.  Such a response is much stronger and much faster than previously reported.  Over a longer period of 17 years, annual ice velocities have decreased slightly, which suggests that the englacial hydraulic system adjusts constantly to the variable meltwater input, which results in a more or less constant ice flux over the years.  The positive-feedback mechanism between melt rate and ice velocity appears to be a seasonal process that may have only a limited effect on the response of the ice sheet to climate warming over the next decades.”

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