Self‐Consistent Ice Mass Balance and Regional Sea Level From Time‐Variable Gravity

The sea level fingerprint of recent ice mass fluxes

The sea level contribution from glacial sources has been accelerating during the first decade of the 21st Century (Meier et al., 2007; Velicogna, 2009). This contribution is not distributed uniformly across the world’s oceans due to both oceanographic and gravitational effects. We compute the sea level signature for ice mass fluxes due to changes in the gravity field, Earth’s rotation and relat...

Ice sheets and sea level.

Gravity & Sea Level

Changes in global sea level arising from man's activity is today a subject of wide interest and concern. A number of satellite missions, in Europe and the United States, are aimed at improving our knowledge and understanding of the ongoing changes in sea level. The ERS, Jason, CryoSat, Champ, GRACE and GOCE satellites are all aimed at contributing to aspects of the sea level problem. However, c...

Estimating the Greenland ice sheet surface mass balance contribution to future sea level rise using the regional atmospheric climate model MAR

To estimate the sea level rise (SLR) originating from changes in surface mass balance (SMB) of the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS), we present 21st century climate projections obtained with the regional climate model MAR (Modèle Atmosphérique Régional), forced by output of three CMIP5 (Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5) general circulation models (GCMs). Our results indicate that in a wa...

Ice-sheet and sea-level changes.

Future sea-level rise is an important issue related to the continuing buildup of atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations. The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, with the potential to raise sea level approximately 70 meters if completely melted, dominate uncertainties in projected sea-level change. Freshwater fluxes from these ice sheets also may affect oceanic circulation, contributing to cl...