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Science 23 March 2001:
Vol. 291. no. 5512, pp. 2381 - 2385
DOI: 10.1126/science.1057022
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Research Articles

Space-Geodetic Constraints on Glacial Isostatic Adjustment in Fennoscandia

G. A. Milne,1* J. L. Davis,2 Jerry X. Mitrovica,3 H.-G. Scherneck,4 J. M. Johansson,4 M. Vermeer,5dagger H. Koivula5

Analysis of Global Positioning System (GPS) data demonstrates that ongoing three-dimensional crustal deformation in Fennoscandia is dominated by glacial isostatic adjustment. Our comparison of these GPS observations with numerical predictions yields an Earth model that satisfies independent geologic constraints and bounds both the average viscosity in the upper mantle (5 × 1020 to 1 × 1021 pascal seconds) and the elastic thickness of the lithosphere (90 to 170 kilometers). We combined GPS-derived radial motions with Fennoscandian tide gauge records to estimate a regional sea surface rise of 2.1 ± 0.3 mm/year. Furthermore, ongoing horizontal tectonic motions greater than ~1 mm/year are ruled out on the basis of the GPS-derived three-dimensional crustal velocity field.

1 Department of Geological Sciences, University of Durham, Durham DH1 3LE, UK.
2 Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, MS-42, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
3 Department of Physics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 1A7, Canada.
4 Onsala Space Observatory, Chalmers Institute of Technology, SE-439 92, Onsala, Sweden.
5 Finnish Geodetic Institute, FI-02431, Masala, Finland.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: g.a.milne{at}durham.ac.uk

dagger    Present address: Institute of Geodesy and Cartography, Helsinki University of Technology, FI-02015, TKK, Finland.

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