Print Email Facebook Twitter Rapid Mass Loss in West Antarctica Revealed by Swarm Gravimetry in the Absence of GRACE Title Rapid Mass Loss in West Antarctica Revealed by Swarm Gravimetry in the Absence of GRACE Author Zhang, Chaoyang (The University of Texas at Austin) Shum, C. K. (Ohio State University; Chinese Academy of Sciences) Bezděk, Aleš (Czech Academy of Sciences and Arts) Bevis, Michael (Ohio State University) De Teixeira Da Encarnação, J. (TU Delft Astrodynamics & Space Missions; The University of Texas at Austin) Tapley, Byron D. (The University of Texas at Austin) Zhang, Yu (Ohio State University) Su, Xiaoli (Huazhong University of Science and Technology) Shen, Qiang (Chinese Academy of Sciences) Date 2021 Abstract GRACE observations revealed that rapid mass loss in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) abruptly paused in 2015, followed by a much lower rate of mass loss ((Formula presented.) Gt yr−1) until the decommissioning of GRACE in 2017. The critical 1-year GRACE intermission data gap raises the question of whether the reduced mass loss rate persists. The Swarm gravimetry data, which have a lower resolution, show good agreement with GRACE/GRACE-FO observations during the overlapping period, i.e., high correlation (0.78) and consistent trend estimates. Swarm data efficiently bridge the GRACE/GRACE-FO data gap and reveal that WAIS has returned to the rapid mass loss state ((Formula presented.) Gt yr−1) that prevailed prior to 2015 during the GRACE intermission data gap. The changes in precipitation patterns, driven by the climate cycles, further explain and confirm the dramatic shifts in the WAIS mass loss regime implied by the Swarm observations. Subject ENSOGRACE/GRACE-FOice mass balancePSASwarmWest Antarctic Ice Sheet To reference this document use: http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:09de2554-da33-4be8-9b8d-f888e175a115 DOI https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL095141 Embargo date 2022-12-01 ISSN 0094-8276 Source Geophysical Research Letters, 48 (23) Part of collection Institutional Repository Document type journal article Rights © 2021 Chaoyang Zhang, C. K. Shum, Aleš Bezděk, Michael Bevis, J. De Teixeira Da Encarnação, Byron D. Tapley, Yu Zhang, Xiaoli Su, Qiang Shen Files PDF Geophysical_Research_Lett ... in_the.pdf 1.48 MB Close viewer /islandora/object/uuid:09de2554-da33-4be8-9b8d-f888e175a115/datastream/OBJ/view