This dataset provides the Gravitational Mass Balance (GMB) product derived from gravimetry data from the GRACE satellite instrument, by DTU Space. The data consists of two products: a mass change time series for the entire Greenland Ice Sheet and different drainage basins for the period April 2002 to June 2017; and mass trend grids for different 5-year periods between 2003 and 2017. This version (1.4) is derived from GRACE monthly solutions provided by TU Graz (ITSG-Grace 2016), apart from August 2016 time series which is computed using the CRS-R05 solution.

The mass change time series contains the mass change (with respect to a chosen reference month) for all of the Greenland Ice Sheet and each individual drainage basin. For each month (defined by a decimal year) a mass change in Gt and its associated error (also in Gt) is provided. The mass trend grid product is given in units of mm water equivalent per year.

Mass balance is an important variable to understand glacial thinning and ablation rates to enable mapping glacier area change. The time series allows the longer term comparison of trends whereas the mass trend grids provide a yearly snapshot which can be further analysed and compared across the data set.

Basin definitions and further data descriptions can be found in the Algorithm Theoretical Baseline Document (ST-DTU-ESA-GISCCI-ATBD-001_v3.1.pdf) and Product Specification Document (ST-DTU-ESA-GISCCI-PSD_v2.2.pdf) which are provided on the Greenland Ice Sheet CCI project website.

Citation:

Barletta, V. R., Sørensen, L. S., and Forsberg, R.: Scatter of mass changes estimates at basin scale for Greenland and Antarctica, The Cryosphere, 7, 1411-1432, doi:10.5194/tc-7-1411-2013, 2013.