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Originally published in Science Express on 2 March 2006
Science 24 March 2006:
Vol. 311. no. 5768, pp. 1754 - 1756
DOI: 10.1126/science.1123785
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Reports

Measurements of Time-Variable Gravity Show Mass Loss in Antarctica

Isabella Velicogna1,2* and John Wahr1*

Using measurements of time-variable gravity from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment satellites, we determined mass variations of the Antarctic ice sheet during 2002–2005. We found that the mass of the ice sheet decreased significantly, at a rate of 152 ± 80 cubic kilometers of ice per year, which is equivalent to 0.4 ± 0.2 millimeters of global sea-level rise per year. Most of this mass loss came from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.

1 University of Colorado, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences and Department of Physics, University Campus Box 390, Boulder, CO 80309–0390, USA.
2 Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Mail Stop 300-233, Pasadena, CA 91109–8099, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: isabella{at}colorado.edu (I.V.); wahr{at}colorado.edu (J.W.)

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)