Combination of GRACE/GRACE-FO and CryoSat-2 data resolves Glacial Isostatic Adjustment spatially and temporally in the Amundsen Sea Embayment, West Antarctica

Publikation: Beitrag zu KonferenzenAbstractBeigetragen

Beitragende

Abstract

An effective spatial resolution of a few hundred kilometres, typically assessed for mass variations derived from GRACE/GRACE-FO data, is a major limitation for the rigorous investigation of local causes of mass variations. This is crucial for analyzing mass changes of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, which is one of the tipping elements in the Earth’s climate system. In this region, ice mass changes occur on spatial scales smaller than the typical GRACE/GRACE-FO resolution. Furthermore, this is also the case for the solid-Earth deformation induced by ice load changes, which in turn can affect the glacier flow. Especially in the Amundsen Sea Embayment, mass changes due to the ongoing Glacial Isostatic Adjustment (GIA) have been postulated to vary on spatial scales smaller than 200 km and to feed back significantly on ice flow dynamics. Here, we present results from a data combination approach with a focus on the Amundsen Sea Embayment, West Antarctica. This approach utilizes data from GRACE/GRACE-FO and CryoSat-2 satellite altimetry with regional climate and firn model results over a time span of 10 years from 2011 to 2020. Improved GRACE/GRACE-FO gravity-field processing and a study area in a high latitude region, where the signal-to-noise is high, benefit a high spatial resolution of the results. One processing step is the smoothing of the input data sets in order to unify their different spatial resolution. We find a best fit of the combination results with independent GNSS observations by applying a Gaussian smoother of 135 km half-response width. The weighted rms difference is 3.8 mm/a in terms of estimated bedrock motion. It is almost twice as large when the input data sets are smoothed with a 300 km half-response filter. The determined effects of solid-Earth deformation may be a useful boundary information for GIA modelling in this region, e.g. for testing rheological models or (centennial) glacial histories.

Details

OriginalspracheEnglisch
PublikationsstatusVeröffentlicht - 17 Apr. 2024
Peer-Review-StatusNein

Konferenz

TitelEuropean Geosciences Union General Assembly 2024
KurztitelEGU24
Dauer14 - 19 April 2024
Webseite
OrtAustria Center Vienna & online
StadtWien
LandÖsterreich

Externe IDs

ORCID /0000-0001-5226-7231/work/160952932
ORCID /0000-0002-7417-1131/work/167707947

Schlagworte

Fächergruppen, Lehr- und Forschungsbereiche, Fachgebiete nach Destatis

Ziele für nachhaltige Entwicklung