Continental mass change from GRACE over 2002-2011 and its impact on sea level
Present-day continental mass variation as observed by space gravimetry reveals secular mass decline and accumulation. Whereas the former contributes to sea-level rise, the latter results in sea-level fall. As such, consideration of mass accumulation (rather than focussing solely on mass loss) is imp...
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| Format: | Journal Article |
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Springer - Verlag
2013
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/7045 |
| _version_ | 1848745253601804288 |
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| author | Baur, O. Kuhn, Michael Featherstone, Will |
| author_facet | Baur, O. Kuhn, Michael Featherstone, Will |
| author_sort | Baur, O. |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Present-day continental mass variation as observed by space gravimetry reveals secular mass decline and accumulation. Whereas the former contributes to sea-level rise, the latter results in sea-level fall. As such, consideration of mass accumulation (rather than focussing solely on mass loss) is important for reliable overall estimates of sea-level change. Using data from the Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment satellite mission, we quantify mass-change trends in 19 continental areas that exhibit a dominant signal. The integrated mass change within these regions is representative of the variation over the whole land areas. During the integer 9-year period of May 2002 to April 2011, GIA-adjusted mass gain and mass loss in these areas contributed, on average, to −(0.7 ± 0.4) mm/year of sea-level fall and + (1.8 ± 0.2) mm/year of sea-level rise; the net effect was + (1.1 ± 0.6) mm/year. Ice melting over Greenland, Iceland, Svalbard, the Canadian Arctic archipelago, Antarctica, Alaska and Patagonia was responsible for + (1.4±0.2) mm/year of the total balance. Hence, land-water mass accumulation compensated about 20 % of the impact of ice-melt water influx to the oceans. In order to assess the impact of geocentre motion, we converted geocentre coordinates derived from satellite laser ranging (SLR) to degree-one geopotential coefficients. We found geocentre motion to introduce small biases to mass-change and sea-level change estimates; its overall effect is + (0.1 ± 0.1) mm/year. This value, however, should be taken with care owing to questionable reliability of secular trends in SLR-derived geocentre coordinates. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T06:14:25Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-7045 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T06:14:25Z |
| publishDate | 2013 |
| publisher | Springer - Verlag |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-70452017-09-13T16:02:18Z Continental mass change from GRACE over 2002-2011 and its impact on sea level Baur, O. Kuhn, Michael Featherstone, Will Sea level Geocentre GRACE Time-variable gravity Mass variation Present-day continental mass variation as observed by space gravimetry reveals secular mass decline and accumulation. Whereas the former contributes to sea-level rise, the latter results in sea-level fall. As such, consideration of mass accumulation (rather than focussing solely on mass loss) is important for reliable overall estimates of sea-level change. Using data from the Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment satellite mission, we quantify mass-change trends in 19 continental areas that exhibit a dominant signal. The integrated mass change within these regions is representative of the variation over the whole land areas. During the integer 9-year period of May 2002 to April 2011, GIA-adjusted mass gain and mass loss in these areas contributed, on average, to −(0.7 ± 0.4) mm/year of sea-level fall and + (1.8 ± 0.2) mm/year of sea-level rise; the net effect was + (1.1 ± 0.6) mm/year. Ice melting over Greenland, Iceland, Svalbard, the Canadian Arctic archipelago, Antarctica, Alaska and Patagonia was responsible for + (1.4±0.2) mm/year of the total balance. Hence, land-water mass accumulation compensated about 20 % of the impact of ice-melt water influx to the oceans. In order to assess the impact of geocentre motion, we converted geocentre coordinates derived from satellite laser ranging (SLR) to degree-one geopotential coefficients. We found geocentre motion to introduce small biases to mass-change and sea-level change estimates; its overall effect is + (0.1 ± 0.1) mm/year. This value, however, should be taken with care owing to questionable reliability of secular trends in SLR-derived geocentre coordinates. 2013 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/7045 10.1007/s00190-012-0583-2 Springer - Verlag fulltext |
| spellingShingle | Sea level Geocentre GRACE Time-variable gravity Mass variation Baur, O. Kuhn, Michael Featherstone, Will Continental mass change from GRACE over 2002-2011 and its impact on sea level |
| title | Continental mass change from GRACE over 2002-2011 and its impact on sea level |
| title_full | Continental mass change from GRACE over 2002-2011 and its impact on sea level |
| title_fullStr | Continental mass change from GRACE over 2002-2011 and its impact on sea level |
| title_full_unstemmed | Continental mass change from GRACE over 2002-2011 and its impact on sea level |
| title_short | Continental mass change from GRACE over 2002-2011 and its impact on sea level |
| title_sort | continental mass change from grace over 2002-2011 and its impact on sea level |
| topic | Sea level Geocentre GRACE Time-variable gravity Mass variation |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/7045 |