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Abstract

The Greenland Ice Sheet has undergone rapid changes in recent decades, as the ice has grown thinner and outlet glaciers have retreated bit-by-bit. Calving-front retreat often represents a response to environmental forcing, but at the same time, the slow etching away of ice can weaken the ice sheet and induce further glacial change. To better understand the causes and effects of recent changes in Greenland, we combine satellite observations of glacier terminus positions with a simple flow model to create a continuous, ice-sheet-wide history of Greenland’s areal extents since 1985. With nearly four decades of monthly ice outlines, we explore the complex relationships between secular change and seasonal cycles of calving in Greenland, and we report on the mass changes associated with the ongoing advance and retreat of the ice sheet. <br><br>This work was performed at the California Institute of Technology's Jet Propulsion Laboratory under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Cryosphere Science Program.