Articles | Volume 12, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-71-2018
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-71-2018
Research article
 | 
10 Jan 2018
Research article |  | 10 Jan 2018

Using satellite laser ranging to measure ice mass change in Greenland and Antarctica

Jennifer A. Bonin, Don P. Chambers, and Minkang Cheng

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Cited articles

A, G., Wahr, J., and Zhong, S.: Computations of the viscoelastic response of a 3-D compressible earth to surface loading: an application to glacial isostatic adjustment in Antarctica and Canada, Geophys. J. Int., 192, 557–572, https://doi.org/10.1093/gji/ggs030, 2013. 
Bettadpur, S.: UTCSR Level-2 Processing Standards Document (for Level-2 Product Release 0005), GRACE 327–742, CSR Publ. GR-12-xx, Rev. 4.0, University of Texas, Austin, 2012. 
Bonin, J. and Chambers, D.: Uncertainty estimates of a GRACE inversion modelling technique over Greenland using a simulation, Geophys. J. Int., 194, 212–229, https://doi.org/10.1093/gji/ggt091, 2013. 
Chambers, D. P.: Observing seasonal steric sea level variations with GRACE and satellite altimetry, J. Geophys. Res.-Oceans, 111, C03010, https://doi.org/10.1029/2005JC002914, 2006. 
Chambers, D. P. and Bonin, J. A.: Evaluation of Release-05 GRACE time-variable gravity coefficients over the ocean, Ocean Sci., 8, 859–868, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-8-859-2012, 2012. 
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Short summary
Before GRACE in 2002, few large-scale measurements of mass change over Greenland and Antarctica existed. We use a least squares inversion of satellite laser ranging (SLR) data to expand the polar mass change time series back to 1994. We explain the technique and analyze its errors, then apply it to SLR and GRACE data. We can estimate the summed mass change over Greenland and Antarctica with low uncertainty. SLR's noise causes interannual errors, but the 20-year estimate is reliable.