Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.
Click Me!

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Originally published in Science Express on 2 March 2006
Science 24 March 2006:
Vol. 311. no. 5768, pp. 1754 - 1756
DOI: 10.1126/science.1123785
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

Measurements of Time-Variable Gravity Show Mass Loss in Antarctica

Isabella Velicogna1,2* and John Wahr1*

Using measurements of time-variable gravity from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment satellites, we determined mass variations of the Antarctic ice sheet during 2002–2005. We found that the mass of the ice sheet decreased significantly, at a rate of 152 ± 80 cubic kilometers of ice per year, which is equivalent to 0.4 ± 0.2 millimeters of global sea-level rise per year. Most of this mass loss came from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.

1 University of Colorado, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences and Department of Physics, University Campus Box 390, Boulder, CO 80309–0390, USA.
2 Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Mail Stop 300-233, Pasadena, CA 91109–8099, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: isabella{at}colorado.edu (I.V.); wahr{at}colorado.edu (J.W.)

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Inaugural Article: Tipping elements in the Earth's climate system.
T. M. Lenton, H. Held, E. Kriegler, J. W. Hall, W. Lucht, S. Rahmstorf, and H. J. Schellnhuber (2008)
PNAS 105, 1786-1793
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Free-Drifting Icebergs: Hot Spots of Chemical and Biological Enrichment in the Weddell Sea.
K. L. Smith Jr., B. H. Robison, J. J. Helly, R. S. Kaufmann, H. A. Ruhl, T. J. Shaw, B. S. Twining, and M. Vernet (2007)
Science 317, 478-482
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Recent Sea-Level Contributions of the Antarctic and Greenland Ice Sheets.
A. Shepherd and D. Wingham (2007)
Science 315, 1529-1532
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Sea levels: change and variability during warm intervals.
R. Edwards (2006)
Progress in Physical Geography 30, 785-796
   PDF »
Recent Greenland Ice Mass Loss by Drainage System from Satellite Gravity Observations.
S. B. Luthcke, H. J. Zwally, W. Abdalati, D. D. Rowlands, R. D. Ray, R. S. Nerem, F. G. Lemoine, J. J. McCarthy, and D. S. Chinn (2006)
Science 314, 1286-1289
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Satellite Gravity Measurements Confirm Accelerated Melting of Greenland Ice Sheet.
J. L. Chen, C. R. Wilson, and B. D. Tapley (2006)
Science 313, 1958-1960
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Insignificant change in Antarctic snowfall since the International Geophysical Year..
A. J. Monaghan, D. H. Bromwich, R. L. Fogt, S.-H. Wang, P. A. Mayewski, D. A. Dixon, A. Ekaykin, M. Frezzotti, I. Goodwin, E. Isaksson, et al. (2006)
Science 313, 827-831
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

ADVERTISEMENT

To Advertise     Find Products