Surface Deformation and Gravity Changes from Surface and Internal Loads

Download or read book Surface Deformation and Gravity Changes from Surface and Internal Loads written by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-06-11 with total page 28 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Air and space borne remote sensing have made it possible to monitor the mass and energy transport at various scales within the cryosphere-hydrosphere-atmosphere system. The recent surface mass balance (the rate of net gain of snow and ice at a geographic point) map for the Antarctic ice sheet is constructed by interpolating sparse in situ observations (about 1,800 points) with empirically calibrated satellite data of passive back emission of microwaves. The digital elevation model obtained from satellite radar altimetry is used to improve the delineation of the ice flow drainage basins. As important as these results are, the uncertainty remains up to about 2 mm/yr of eustatic sea level change with the net imbalance. In other words, we are still unable to determine even the sign of the contribution of the Antarctic ice sheet to contemporary sea level change. The problem is more likely with the discharge rather than accumulation.Hager, Bradford H. and Fang, MingGoddard Space Flight CenterANTARCTIC REGIONS; ICE; MASS DISTRIBUTION; MASS TRANSFER; SEA LEVEL; DEFORMATION; REMOTE SENSING