EGU21-8019, updated on 21 Jul 2023
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-8019
EGU General Assembly 2021
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Validation of GIA models in north-east Greenland using densified GNSS measurements and refined estimates of present-day ice-mass changes

Maria Theresia Kappelsberger1, Undine Strößenreuther1, Mirko Scheinert1, Martin Horwath1, Andreas Groh1, Christoph Knöfel1, Susanne Lunz1,2, and Shfaqat Abbas Khan3
Maria Theresia Kappelsberger et al.
  • 1Institut für Planetare Geodäsie, Technische Universität Dresden, 01062 Dresden, Germany (maria.kappelsberger@tu-dresden.de)
  • 2GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, 14473 Potsdam, Germany
  • 3DTU Space, National Space Institute, Technical University of Denmark, Department of Geodesy and Earth Observations, Kgs. Lyngby 2800, Denmark

Models of glacial-isostatic adjustment (GIA) exhibit large differences in north-east Greenland, reflecting uncertainties about glacial history and solid Earth rheology. The GIA uncertainties feed back to uncertainties in present-day mass-balance estimates from satellite gravimetry. We present results from repeated and continuous GNSS measurements which provide direct observables of the bedrock displacement. The repeated measurements were conducted within five measurement campaigns between 2008 and 2017. They reveal uplift rates in north-east Greenland in the range of 2.8 to 8.9 mm yr-1. We used the observed uplift rates to validate different GIA models in conjunction with estimates of the elastic load deformation induced by present-day ice-mass changes and ocean mass redistribution. To determine present-day ice-mass changes for both the Greenland Ice Sheet and the peripheral glaciers, we combined CryoSat-2 satellite altimetry data with GRACE satellite gravimetry data. The different GIA models were consistently used in all processing steps. Our comparison between observed and predicted uplift rates clearly favours GIA models that show low rates (0.7 to 4.4 mm yr-1 at the GNSS sites) over GIA models with higher rates of up to 8.3 mm yr-1. Applying the correction predicted by the GIA model favoured in north-east Greenland we estimate an ice-mass loss of 233 ± 43 Gt yr-1 for entire Greenland (including peripheral glaciers) over the period July 2010 to June 2017.

How to cite: Kappelsberger, M. T., Strößenreuther, U., Scheinert, M., Horwath, M., Groh, A., Knöfel, C., Lunz, S., and Khan, S. A.: Validation of GIA models in north-east Greenland using densified GNSS measurements and refined estimates of present-day ice-mass changes, EGU General Assembly 2021, online, 19–30 Apr 2021, EGU21-8019, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-8019, 2021.

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