Graph of the Day: Greenland Ice sheet Cumulative Mass Anomaly, 2003-2008

Cumulative SMB-D anomaly (2003–2008) and comparison with GRACE data (18). Short horizontal lines indicate GRACE uncertainty, dashed lines the linear trends. GRACE values are not absolute numbers, and the curve has been vertically shifted for clarity. The scatter plot in the inset shows a direct linear regression between the monthly GRACE values as a function of the cumulative SMB-D anomaly, together with the linear regression coefficients. Figure 1 compares the time series of the cumulative SMB-D anomaly with GRACE data (18) in the epoch during which both are available (2003–2008). The high correlation (r = 0.99) between the two fully independent time series and the similarity in trends support the consistency of the mass balance reconstruction. A linear regression on the SMB-D time series yields a 2003–2008 GrIS mass loss rate of –237 ± 20 Gt year–1.

Michiel van den Broeke, et al., Partitioning Recent Greenland Mass Loss, Science 13 November 2009: Vol. 326. no. 5955, pp. 984 – 986, DOI: 10.1126/science.1178176