image: Cumulative mass changes of Antarctic Ice Sheet, East Antarctica, West Antarctica, and Antarctic Penisula from 1996 to 2022.
Credit: ©Science China Press
Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) has an ice storage that can raise the global sea level by ~58 m. Thus, monitoring and forecasting of its mass change is of great importance. Currently, there are differences between estimations of the AIS mass balance from different methods, causing large uncertainties in forecasting AIS’ contribution to future sea level rise. Based on 16 independent solutions of AIS mass balance provided by scientists from 8 Chinese research institutions, which are derived by using three estimation techniques, namely input-output method, altimetry method and gravimetry method, researchers estimate the reconciled mass balance of AIS and its regions from 1996 to 2021. These input solutions and the reconciled estimation are not included in previous publications of the Ice sheet Mass Balance Inter-comparison Exercise (IMBIE) team.
Researchers improve the reconciled estimation method by intruding an adaptive data aggregation window to handle the heterogeneity of the contributing solutions, which are induced by differences in number of solutions, temporal distributions, uncertainties, and estimation techniques. They use the updated satellite observations, especially those in-situ ground and airborne survey data collected during the multi-year CHINARE campaigns in the princess Elizabeth Land. Researchers use a two-step procedure that establishes ensembled solutions within each estimation method (input-output, altimetry or gravimetry), and then estimates the reconciled solution that is method-independent.
The results show that AIS has lost a total ice mass of 3213±253 Gt from 1996 to 2021, an equivalent of 8.9±0.7 mm of global sea level rise (see following figure). Furthermore, there is a sustained mass loss acceleration in AIS since 2006, from a loss of 88.1±3.6 Gt yr-1 during 1996-2005, 130.7±8.4 Gt yr-1 during 2006-2013, to 157.0±9.0 Gt yr-1 during 2014-2021.
See the article:
Li R, Li G, Hai G, Xie H, Cheng Y, Chen W, Cui X, Ding M, Gao C, Hao T, Ke C, Li C, Li J, Liu Y, Ran J, Ren J, Shen Q, Shen Y, Shi H, Wang S, Wang Z, Zhan J, Zhang B, Zhong M, Zhou C. 2024. Reconciled estimation of Antarctic ice sheet mass balance and contribution to global sea level change from 1996 to 2021. Science China Earth Sciences, 67(11): 3562–3578, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-023-1394-5
Journal
Science China Earth Sciences