Improved elevation-change measurement of the southern Greenland ice sheet from satellite radar altimetry

Author

Davis, Curt H. ; Kluever, Craig A. ; Haines, Bruce J. ; Perez, Cesar ; Yoon, Yoke T.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng., Missouri Univ., Columbia, MO, USA

Volume

38

Issue

3

fYear

2000

fDate

5/1/2000 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1367

Lastpage

1378

Abstract

A new analysis of Seasat and Geosat satellite radar altimeter measurements over the Greenland ice sheet was performed to determine surface elevation change. The new analysis includes twice as many measurements and has 50% greater spatial coverage than the authors´ previous study. In addition, a precise global ocean reference network created from four years of Topex/Poseidon altimeter data is used to obtain improved estimates of altimeter orbit errors and measurement system biases. The results show that the average elevation change of the southern Greenland ice sheet above 2000 m from 1978 to 1988 is not significantly different than zero. This contradicts earlier and even more recent studies that reported positive ice sheet growth rates and suggested increased precipitation due to a warmer polar climate

Keywords

glaciology; AD 1978 to 1988; Arctic; Geosat; Greenland ice sheet; Seasat; elevation-change; glaciology; growth; increased precipitation; mass balance; polar ice sheet; precipitation increase; satellite radar altimetry observations; surface elevation change; Extraterrestrial measurements; Ice surface; Oceans; Performance analysis; Performance evaluation; Radar measurements; Satellites; Sea measurements; Sea surface; Spaceborne radar;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Geoscience and Remote Sensing, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0196-2892

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/36.843031

Filename

843031