Validation of GIA models in north-east Greenland using densified GNSS measurements and refined estimates of present-day ice-mass changes

Abstract

<p>Models of glacial-isostatic adjustment (GIA) exhibit large differences in north-east Greenland, reflecting uncertainties about glacial history and solid Earth rheology. The GIA uncertainties feed back to uncertainties in present-day mass-balance estimates from satellite gravimetry. We present results from repeated and continuous GNSS measurements which provide direct observables of the bedrock displacement. The repeated measurements were conducted within five measurement campaigns between 2008 and 2017. They reveal uplift rates in north-east Greenland in the range of 2.8 to 8.9 mm yr<sup>-1</sup>. We used the observed uplift rates to validate different GIA models in conjunction with estimates of the elastic load deformation induced by present-day ice-mass changes and ocean mass redistribution. To determine present-day ice-mass changes for both the Greenland Ice Sheet and the peripheral glaciers, we combined CryoSat-2 satellite altimetry data with GRACE satellite gravimetry data. The different GIA models were consistently used in all processing steps. Our comparison between observed and predicted uplift rates clearly favours GIA models that show low rates (0.7 to 4.4 mm yr<sup>-1</sup> at the GNSS sites) over GIA models with higher rates of up to 8.3 mm yr<sup>-1</sup>. Applying the correction predicted by the GIA model favoured in north-east Greenland we estimate an ice-mass loss of 233 ± 43 Gt yr<sup>-1</sup> for entire Greenland (including peripheral glaciers) over the period July 2010 to June 2017.</p>