Increased ice losses from Antarctica detected by CryoSat-2

McMillan, Malcolm; Shepherd, A.; Sundal, A. V.; Briggs, K.; Muir, Alan; Ridout, A.; Hogg, Anna E.; Wingham, D. J.

doi:10.1002/2014gl060111

Cited by 303 publications

(412 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…The most recent assessment of the mass balance of the entire peninsula uses CryoSat-2 interferometric radar altimetry data to infer a mass balance of −13 ± 13 Gt a −1 in the most comparable basins of their study for a period following our evaluation, 2010(McMillan et al, 2014their basins 25 and 26). We suggest that the large difference between this study and ours is due to underrepresentation of the narrow deep fjord glaciers on both sides that are rapidly losing ice elevation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous studies have shown large negative mass imbalances and significant elevation losses for the nAP (Ivins et al, 2011;Shepherd et al, 2012;Luthcke et al, 2013;Sasgen et al, 2013;McMillan et al, 2014). However, in general these studies have not resolved the spatial distribution of mass imbalance in detail.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 88%

“…Studies based on gravitational change detection using the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment satellite system (GRACE) have an inherent spatial resolution of roughly 250 km scale (Ivins et al, 2011;Luthcke et al, 2013;Sasgen et al, 2013), far larger than the scale of the nAP individual glacier basins and islands. Past altimetry-based studies (Pritchard et al, 2009;Flament and Rémy, 2012;Shepherd et al, 2012;McMillan et al, 2014) suffer from either sparse coverage or slope correction issues, or both, due to the steep terrain in the nAP. In the published assessments based on laser altimetry (Shepherd et al, 2012), broad assumptions and large extrapolations are required to interpolate the data across the dissected and rugged peninsula region.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Detailed ice loss pattern in the northern Antarctic Peninsula: widespread decline driven by ice front retreats

Scambos¹,

Berthier

Haran³

et al. 2014

The Cryosphere

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Abstract. The northern Antarctic Peninsula (nAP, < 66 • S) is one of the most rapidly changing glaciated regions on earth, yet the spatial patterns of its ice mass loss at the glacier basin scale have to date been poorly documented. We use satellite laser altimetry and satellite stereo-image topography spanning 2001-2010, but primarily 2003-2008, to map ice elevation change and infer mass changes for 33 glacier basins covering the mainland and most large islands in the nAP. Rates of ice volume and ice mass change are 27.7 ± 8.6 km 3 a −1 and 24.9±7.8 Gt a −1 , equal to −0.73 m a −1 w.e. for the study area. Mass loss is the highest for eastern glaciers affected by major ice shelf collapses in 1995 and 2002, where twelve glaciers account for 60 % of the total imbalance. However, losses at smaller rates occur throughout the nAP, at both high and low elevation, despite increased snow accumulation along the western coast and ridge crest. We interpret the widespread mass loss to be driven by decades of ice front retreats on both sides of the nAP, and extended throughout the ice sheet due to the propagation of kinematic waves triggered at the fronts into the interior.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Detailed ice loss pattern in the northern Antarctic Peninsula: widespread decline driven by ice front retreats

Scambos¹,

Berthier

Haran³

et al. 2014

The Cryosphere

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“…Measurements of recent elevation changes over the Antarctic ice sheet from CryoSat-2 show a contribution to GMSL rise of 0.45±0.14 mm year −1 since 2010, 75 % of which is derived from the Amundsen Sea sector of West Antarctica [76], and a contribution of 0.35±0.23 mm year −1 since 2011 [71]. Sutterley et al [77] compared four independent estimates of the mass balance of the Amundsen Sea area, identified by all studies as the primary region of Antarctica currently experiencing mass loss.…”

Section: Antarctic Ice Sheetmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent Progress in Understanding and Projecting Regional and Global Mean Sea Level Change

Clark

Church

Gregory

et al. 2015

Curr Clim Change Rep

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Considerable progress has been made in understanding the present and future regional and global sea level in the 2 years since the publication of the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Here, we evaluate how the new results affect the AR5's assessment of (i) historical sea level rise, including attribution of that rise and implications for the sea level budget, (ii) projections of the components and of total global mean sea level (GMSL), and (iii) projections of regional variability and emergence of the anthropogenic signal. In each of these cases, new work largely provides additional evidence in support of the AR5 assessment, providing greater confidence in those findings. Recent analyses confirm the twentieth century sea level rise, with some analyses showing a slightly smaller rate before 1990 and some a slightly larger value than reported in the AR5. There is now more evidence of an acceleration in the rate of rise. Ongoing ocean heat uptake and associated thermal expansion have continued since 2000, and are consistent with ocean thermal expansion reported in the AR5. A significant amount of heat is being stored deeper in the water column, with a larger rate of heat uptake since 2000 compared to the previous decades and with the largest storage in the Southern Ocean. The first formal detection studies for ocean thermal expansion and glacier mass loss since the AR5 have confirmed the AR5 finding of a significant anthropogenic contribution to sea level rise over the last 50 years. New projections of glacier loss from two regions suggest smaller contributions to GMSL rise from these regions than in studies assessed by the AR5; additional regional studies are required to further assess whether there are broader implications of these results. Mass loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet, primarily as a result of increased surface melting, and from the Antarctic Ice Sheet, primarily as a result of increased ice discharge, has accelerated. The largest estimates of acceleration in mass loss from the two ice sheets for 2003-2013 equal or exceed the acceleration of GMSL rise calculated from the satellite altimeter sea level record over the longer period of 1993-2014. However, when increased mass gain in land water storage and parts of East Antarctica, and decreased mass loss from glaciers in Alaska and some other regions are taken into account, the net acceleration in the ocean mass gain is consistent with the satellite altimeter record. New studies suggest that a marine ice sheet instability (MISI) may have been initiated in parts of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS), but that it will affect only a limited number of ice streams in the twenty-first century. New projections of mass loss from the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets by 2100, including a contribution from parts of WAIS undergoing unstable retreat, suggest a contribution that falls largely within the likely range (i.e., two thirds probability) of the AR5. These new results increase confidence in the AR5 likel...

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“…This is attributed to increased intensity of circumpolar westerlies, warming in the tropical Pacific and El Niño Southern Oscillation effects (Bracegirdle et al, 2008;Ding and Steig, 2013;Etourneau, 2013). Recent data show that warming in the Antarctic is an increasing trend (Meredith and King, 2005;Turner et al, 2013;McMillan et al, 2014;Schmidtko et al, 2014); since 1950 there has been a 2 C mean annual increase in atmospheric temperature (Ducklow et al, 2007), while the WAP region has warmed by nearly 3 C in the past 50 years (Turner and Overland, 2009). Even though temperatures are rising at an unprecedented rate, Antarctica remains one of the harshest environments on Earth, with relatively few terrestrial organisms able to survive on its icefree terrain (Kappen, 1993).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Passive warming reduces stress and shifts reproductive effort in the Antarctic moss,Polytrichastrum alpinum

Shortlidge

Eppley

Köhler

et al. 2016

Ann Bot

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Background and Aims The Western Antarctic Peninsula is one of the most rapidly warming regions on Earth, and many biotic communities inhabiting this dynamic region are responding to these well-documented climatic shifts. Yet some of the most prevalent organisms of terrestrial Antarctica, the mosses, and their responses to warming have been relatively overlooked and understudied. In this research, the impacts of 6 years of passive warming were investigated using open top chambers (OTCs), on moss communities of Fildes Peninsula, King George Island, Antarctica.Methods The effects of experimental passive warming on the morphology, sexual reproductive effort and stress physiology of a common dioicous Antarctic moss, Polytrichastrum alpinum, were tested, gaining the first speciesspecific mechanistic insight into moss responses to warming in the Antarctic. Additionally community analyses were conducted examining the impact of warming on overall moss percentage cover and sporophyte production in intact Antarctic moss communities.Key Results Our results show a generally greater percentage moss cover under warming conditions as well as increased gametangia production in P. alpinum. Distinct morphological and physiological shifts in P. alpinum were found under passive warming compared with those without warming: warmed mosses reduced investment in cellular stress defences, but invested more towards primary productivity and gametangia development.Conclusions Taken together, results from this study of mosses under passive warming imply that in ice-free moss-dominated regions, continued climate warming will probably have profound impacts on moss biology and colonization along the Western Antarctic Peninsula. Such findings highlight the fundamental role that mosses will play in influencing the terrestrialization of a warming Antarctica.

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Increased ice losses from Antarctica detected by CryoSat-2

Cited by 303 publications

References 36 publications

Detailed ice loss pattern in the northern Antarctic Peninsula: widespread decline driven by ice front retreats

Detailed ice loss pattern in the northern Antarctic Peninsula: widespread decline driven by ice front retreats

Recent Progress in Understanding and Projecting Regional and Global Mean Sea Level Change

Passive warming reduces stress and shifts reproductive effort in the Antarctic moss,Polytrichastrum alpinum

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