Articles | Volume 15, issue 3
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1285-2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1285-2021
Research article
 | 
11 Mar 2021
Research article |  | 11 Mar 2021

The regional-scale surface mass balance of Pine Island Glacier, West Antarctica, over the period 2005–2014, derived from airborne radar soundings and neutron probe measurements

Stefan Kowalewski, Veit Helm, Elizabeth Mary Morris, and Olaf Eisen

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Cited articles

Agosta, C., Amory, C., Kittel, C., Orsi, A., Favier, V., Gallée, H., van den Broeke, M. R., Lenaerts, J. T. M., van Wessem, J. M., van de Berg, W. J., and Fettweis, X.: Estimation of the Antarctic surface mass balance using the regional climate model MAR (1979–2015) and identification of dominant processes, The Cryosphere, 13, 281–296, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-281-2019, 2019. a
Arcone, S. A., Spikes, V. B., Gordon, S. H., and Mayewski, P. A.: Stratigraphic continuity in 400 MHz short-pulse radar profiles of firn in West Antarctica, Ann. Glaciol., 39, 195–200, https://doi.org/10.3189/172756404781813925, 2004. a
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Bamber, J. L. and Dawson, G. J.: Complex evolving patterns of mass loss from Antarctica’s largest glacier, Nat. Geosci., 13, 127–131, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0527-z, 2020. a
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Short summary
This study presents estimates of total mass input for the Pine Island Glacier (PIG) over the period 2005–2014 from airborne radar measurements. Our analysis reveals a total mass input similar to an earlier estimate for the period 1985–2009 and same area. This suggests a stationary total mass input contrary to the accelerated mass loss of PIG over the past decades. However, we also find that its uncertainty is highly sensitive to the geostatistical assumptions required for its calculation.