Transient Ice Flow Impacts on NASA-measured Ice Sheet Elevation Change

The Greenland Ice Sheet is the largest land-ice contributor to global sea level, and mass loss from the ice sheet is increasing.A chief priority of NASA’s Earth Science Program is therefore to document ongoing ice sheet mass loss and understand the processes responsible for it. One way NASA is achieving this mission is by measuring volume change from repeat measurements of ice surface elevation using satellite altimetry. These measurements are complicated bytransient surface height changes from ice flow dynamics, whichredistributemass on the ice sheet but donot reflect mass loss from,or addition to,the ice system. The magnitude and variability of elevation change due to ice flow dynamics is presently unknown, and the impact on NASA-measured trends in ice surface elevation istherefore unaccounted for. This project will use NASA data products toprovide a first assessment of the magnitude and variability in time and space of ice flow-controlled elevation changeata study area in western Greenland. The seed project will develop methodology and analysis techniques by combining spatially distributed NASA datasets with high quality, in-situ data collected by the project investigators. The case study will be upscaledto the entire ice sheetwith future NASA support. It will facilitate the development of a NASA-based research program by an early careerresearch professorin a topic that closely aligns with the agency’s mission, and has high potential for upcomingresearch funding.  

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