USGCRP Home Library Our Changing Planet FY2009   Figure 21: Alaskan Glacier Mass Balance.

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Updated 20 August 2008

OUR CHANGING PLANET The U.S. Climate Change Science Program for Fiscal Year 2009 A Report by the Climate Change Science Program and The Subcommittee on Global Change Research A Supplement to the President's Fiscal Year 2009 Budget

Alaskan glacier mass balance is provided by analyses of measurements from the GRACE mission’s inter-satellite range-rate data (April 2003 through September 2007). The top panel shows the annual variation and overall trend in ice mass for the blue-colored areas in the lower left image (ice mass units are Gt, i.e., 1015 g). The lower left image presents the spatial distribution of the surface ice mass trends for the period April 2003 to March 2007. The lower right image shows the spatial distribution of surface annual ice mass change. The greatest negative net balance rates are found in the Yakutat and Glacier Bay regions, while the largest annual amplitudes are found in the southeast glacier regions. Note that surface mass variation contributions from the atmosphere, oceans, tides, terrestrial water storage, and glacial isostatic adjustment have been removed. Credit: S.B. Luthcke, NASA / Goddard Space Flight Center. Back to Observing and Monitoring the Climate System >>

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