Greenland Ice Sheet seasonal and spatial mass variability from model  simulations and GRACE (2003–2012)

Alexander, Patrick M.; Tedesco, Marco; Schlegel, Nicole-Jeanne; Luthcke, Scott B.; Fettweis, Xavier; Larour, Eric

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-1259-2016

Articles | Volume 10, issue 3

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-1259-2016

© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-1259-2016

© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 10, issue 3

Research article

| Highlight paper

|

20 Jun 2016

Research article | Highlight paper |

| 20 Jun 2016

Greenland Ice Sheet seasonal and spatial mass variability from model simulations and GRACE (2003–2012)

Patrick M. Alexander, Marco Tedesco, Nicole-Jeanne Schlegel, Scott B. Luthcke, Xavier Fettweis, and Eric Larour

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-1259-2016-supplement

Data sets

GRACE Mission Overview S. B. Luthcke, D. D. Rowlands, T. J. Sabaka, B. D. Loomis, M. Horwath, and A. A. Arendt http://ssed.gsfc.nasa.gov/grace

MAR v3.5.2 model outputs X. Fettweis ftp://ftp.climato.be/fettweis/MARv3.5/Greenland/ERA_1958-2014_25km/monthly_raw_outputs_at_25km/

ISSM model outputs ISSM model team http://issm.jpl.nasa.gov/contactus/

Short summary

We compared satellite-derived estimates of spatial and seasonal variations in Greenland Ice Sheet mass with a set of model simulations, revealing an agreement between models and satellite estimates for the ice-sheet-wide seasonal fluctuations in mass, but disagreement at finer spatial scales. The model simulations underestimate low-elevation mass loss. Improving the ability of models to capture variations and trends in Greenland Ice Sheet mass is important for estimating future sea level rise.