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Submitted on February 3, 2005
Accepted on May 5, 2005
Snowfall-Driven Growth in East Antarctic Ice Sheet Mitigates Recent Sea-Level Rise
Curt H. Davis 1*, Yonghong Li 1, Joseph R. McConnell 2, Markus M. Frey 3, Edward Hanna 4
1 Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Missouri - Columbia, Columbia, MO 65211, USA. 2 Desert Research Institute, University and Community College System of Nevada, Reno, NV 89512, USA. 3 Department of Hydrology and Water Resources, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA. 4 Department of Geography, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, United Kingdom.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Curt H. Davis , E-mail: DavisCH{at}missouri.edu
Satellite radar altimetry measurements suggest that the EastAntarctic ice sheet interior north of 81.6°S increasedin mass by 45 ± 7 billion tons per year from 1992 to 2003.Comparisons with contemporaneous meteorological model snowfallestimates suggest that the gain in mass was associated withincreased precipitation. A gain of this magnitude is enoughto slow sea-level rise by 0.12 ± 0.02 millimeters peryear.
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