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Science 18 January 2002:
Vol. 295. no. 5554, pp. 476 - 480
DOI: 10.1126/science.1066875
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Reports

Positive Mass Balance of the Ross Ice Streams, West Antarctica

Ian Joughin,1* Slawek Tulaczyk2*

We have used ice-flow velocity measurements from synthetic aperture radar to reassess the mass balance of the Ross Ice Streams, West Antarctica. We find strong evidence for ice-sheet growth (+26.8 gigatons per year), in contrast to earlier estimates indicating a mass deficit (-20.9 gigatons per year). Average thickening is equal to ~25% of the accumulation rate, with most of this growth occurring on Ice Stream C. Whillans Ice Stream, which was thought to have a significantly negative mass balance, is close to balance, reflecting its continuing slowdown. The overall positive mass balance may signal an end to the Holocene retreat of these ice streams.

1 Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Mailstop 300-235, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA.
2 Department of Earth Sciences, A208 Earth and Marine Sciences Building, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA.
*   E-mail: ian{at}radar-sci.jpl.nasa.gov, tulaczyk{at}es.ucsc.edu

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