Widespread Acceleration of Mass Loss From Glaciers in Northwest and Central-West Greenland

The Cryosphere Discussions, June 18

New analyses of satellite images reveal that in the past 50 years, the majority of marine-terminating glaciers in northwestern and central-west Greenland retreated and lost area, with a clear acceleration of loss beginning in 1996. Between 2000 and 2020, 86% of the glaciers studied retreated. The retreat and acceleration of glaciers is responsible for almost half of Greenland’s contribution to SLR; these two regions together contribute to half of that. These marine-terminating glaciers are responding to sharp shifts in ocean surface temperature, to changes in the duration of sea-ice season, to the stability of the entire ice sheet and the volume of meltwater running through the ice sheet.

Note: This paper is currently under review.
https://tc.copernicus.org/preprints/tc-2021-164/