Accelerating Ice Loss From Peripheral Glaciers in North Greenland

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  • Shfaqat A. Khan
  • William Colgan
  • Thomas A. Neumann
  • Michiel R. van den Broeke
  • Kelly M. Brunt
  • Brice Noel
  • Jonathan L. Bamber
  • Javed Hassan
  • Bjørk, Anders Anker

In recent decades, Greenland's peripheral glaciers have experienced large-scale mass loss, resulting in a substantial contribution to sea level rise. While their total area of Greenland ice cover is relatively small (4%), their mass loss is disproportionally large compared to the Greenland ice sheet. Satellite altimetry from Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) and ICESat-2 shows that mass loss from Greenland's peripheral glaciers increased from 27.2 +/- 6.2 Gt/yr (February 2003-October 2009) to 42.3 +/- 6.2 Gt/yr (October 2018-December 2021). These relatively small glaciers now constitute 11 +/- 2% of Greenland's ice loss and contribute to global sea level rise. In the period October 2018-December 2021, mass loss increased by a factor of four for peripheral glaciers in North Greenland. While peripheral glacier mass loss is widespread, we also observe a complex regional pattern where increases in precipitation at high altitudes have partially counteracted increases in melt at low altitude.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere2022GL098915
JournalGeophysical Research Letters
Volume49
Issue number12
ISSN0094-8276
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2022

    Research areas

  • Greenland, ice mass loss, Icesat-2, peripheral glacier, satellite altimetry, sea level rise, SHEET SURFACE ELEVATION, MASS-BALANCE, FIRN-DENSIFICATION, RECONCILED ESTIMATE, BRIEF-COMMUNICATION, CAPS, TIME, MAP

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