Greenland Ice Mass Loss 2002-2023

  • Released Friday, March 8, 2024

The mass of the Greenland ice sheet has rapidly declined in the last several years due to surface melting and iceberg calving. Research based on observations from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites (2002-2017) and GRACE Follow-On (since 2018 - ) indicates that between 2002 and 2023, Greenland shed approximately 270 gigatons of ice per year, causing global sea level to rise by 0.03 inches (0.8 millimeters) per year.
These images, created from GRACE and GRACE-FO data, show changes in Greenland ice mass since 2002. Orange and red shades indicate areas that lost ice mass, while light blue shades indicate areas that gained ice mass. White indicates areas where there has been very little or no change in ice mass since 2002. In general, higher-elevation areas near the center of Greenland experienced little to no change, while lower-elevation and coastal areas experienced over 20 feet (6 meters) of ice mass loss (expressed in equivalent-water-height; dark red) over this 21-year period. The largest mass decreases occurred along the West Greenland coast. T
he average flow lines (grey; created from satellite radar interferometry) of Greenland’s ice converge into the locations of prominent outlet glaciers, and coincide with areas of highest mass loss. This supports other observations that warming ocean waters around Greenland play a key role in contemporary ice mass loss.

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Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA and JPL/Caltech

Release date

This page was originally published on Friday, March 8, 2024.
This page was last updated on Sunday, October 6, 2024 at 12:46 AM EDT.



Datasets used

  • Monthly Surface Mass Anomalies [GRACE and GRACE-FO]

    ID: 1113
    Dates used: 04/2002 - 07/2021

    Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) and GRACE Follow-On (FO) Monthly Surface Mass Anomalies

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