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Submitted on December 13, 2005
Accepted on February 21, 2006
Measurements of Time-Variable Gravity Show Mass Loss in Antarctica
Isabella Velicogna 1* and John Wahr 2*
1 University of Colorado and CIRES, UCB 390, Boulder, CO 80309-0390, USA; Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Mail Stop 300-233, Pasadena, CA 91109-8099, USA. 2 University of Colorado and CIRES, UCB 390, Boulder, CO 80309-0390, USA.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Isabella Velicogna , E-mail: isabella{at}colorado.edu John Wahr , E-mail: wahr{at}colorado.edu
Using measurements of time-variable gravity from the GravityRecovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites we determinemass variations of the Antarctic ice sheet during 2002-2005.We find that the ice sheet mass decreased significantly, ata rate of 152 ± 80 km3/year of ice, equivalent to 0.4 ±0.2 mm/year of global sea level rise. Most of this mass losscame from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.
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