Thickening of the western part of the Greenland ice sheet

Abstract

Abstract NASA's Program for Arctic Regional Climate Assessment (PARCA) includes measurements of ice velocity and ice thickness along the 2000 m elevation contour line in the western part of the ice sheet. Here we use these measurements together with published estimates of snow-accumulation rates to infer die mass balance, or rate of thickening/thinning, of the ice-sheet catchment area inland from the velocity traverse. Within the accuracy to which we know snow-accumulation rates, the entire area is in balance, but localized regions inland from Upernavik Isstrom and Jakobshavn Isbra both appear to be thickening by about 10 cm a-1.