A detection of the sea level fingerprint of Greenland Ice Sheet melt

Rapid melting of ice sheets and glaciers drives a unique geometry, or fingerprint, of sea level change. However, the detection of individual fingerprints has been challenging because of sparse observations at high latitudes and the difficulty of disentangling ocean dynamic variability from the signa...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 2022-09, Vol.377 (6614), p.1550-1554
Main Authors: Coulson, Sophie, Dangendorf, Sönke, Mitrovica, Jerry X., Tamisiea, Mark E., Pan, Linda, Sandwell, David T.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Altimetry
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Fingerprints
Glaciers
Ice sheets
Melting
Sea level
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Rapid melting of ice sheets and glaciers drives a unique geometry, or fingerprint, of sea level change. However, the detection of individual fingerprints has been challenging because of sparse observations at high latitudes and the difficulty of disentangling ocean dynamic variability from the signal. We predict the fingerprint of Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) melt using recent ice mass loss estimates from radar altimetry data and model reconstructions of nearby glaciers and compare this prediction to an independent, altimetry-derived sea surface height trend corrected for ocean dynamic variability in the region adjacent to the ice sheet. A statistically significant correlation between the two fields ( P < 0.001) provides an unambiguous observational detection of the near-field sea level fingerprint of recent GrIS melting in our warming world. Leveling up and down Rapid melting of ice sheets and glaciers raises the global average sea level but does so in a complex pattern of regional increases and decreases called a sea level fingerprint. Coulson et al . found that the fingerprint of melting near the Greenland Ice Sheet can be detected using ice mass loss estimates made from radar altimetry and model reconstructions of nearby glaciers. Their data provide an independent confirmation of the acceleration of Greenland Ice Sheet mass loss and reveal the impact of this mass flux on sea surface heights around Greenland. —HJS High-latitude satellite-based measurements can detect the sea level fingerprint of Greenland Ice Sheet melting.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.abo0926