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Published Online October 20, 2005
Science DOI: 10.1126/science.1115356

Reports

Submitted on May 26, 2005
Accepted on October 11, 2005

Recent Ice-Sheet Growth in the Interior of Greenland

Ola M. Johannessen 1*, Kirill Khvorostovsky 2, Martin W. Miles 3, Leonid P. Bobylev 2

1 Mohn-Sverdrup Center for Global Ocean Studies and Operational Oceanography / Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center, Bergen, 5006, Norway; Geophysical Institute, University of Bergen, 5007, Norway.
2 Nansen International Environmental and Remote Sensing Center, St. Petersburg, 197101, Russia.
3 Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, Bergen, 5007, Norway; Environmental Systems Analysis Research Center, Boulder, CO 80303, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Ola M. Johannessen , E-mail: ola.johannessen{at}nersc.no

A continuous data set of Greenland Ice Sheet altimeter height from ERS-1 and ERS-2 satellites, 1992 to 2003, has been analyzed. An increase of 6.4 ± 0.2 centimeters per year is found in the vast interior areas above 1500 meters, in contrast to previous reports of high-elevation balance. Below 1500 meters, the elevation-change rate is -2.0 ± 0.9 cm/year, in qualitative agreement with reported thinning in the ice-sheet margins. The spatially averaged increase is 5.4 ± 0.2 cm/year, or ~60 cm over 11 years, or ~54 cm when corrected for isostatic uplift. Winter elevation changes are shown to be linked to the North Atlantic Oscillation.


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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)