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Chapter 14Chapter 14

Cuffey & Paterson

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FIGURE 14.1

Observed rise in global mean sea level since the mid-nineteenth century. Light gray band shows range of reconstructed sea levels since 1870, based on sparse tide gauge measurements assimilated into patterns of spatial variability observed in recent studies. Dashed line shows reconstructions directly from coastal tide gauges, starting in 1950. The black line was derived from satellite altimetry, and so includes open oceans. Adapted from Bindoff et al. (2007).

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FIGURE 14.2

Observed changes of the surface elevation of Bear Creek Glacier, Alaska, from 1957 to 1994. The lower glacier thinned while the highest part of the glacier thickened slightly. Adapted from Sapiano et al. (1998).

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FIGURE 14.3

(a) Average observed change in the length of mountain glaciers, for all available locations and for all locations outside of the European Alps. (b) The global mean temperature change estimated from the glacier retreat observations. Adapted from Oerlemans (2005).

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FIGURE 14.4

Estimate for recent global changes of mountain glaciers. (a) The yearly average of specific surface mass balance. (b) The cumulative change in total ice volume. From data given by Dyurgerov (2002) and Dyurgerov and Meier (2005). Data compilation by S.J. Marshall.

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FIGURE 14.5

Various estimates of the recent rate of mass loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet. The vertical dimensions of boxes indicate the published uncertainties; the horizontal dimension, the period of observation. Sources are: K, Krabill et al. (2004); R, Rignot and Kanagaratnam (2006); T, Thomas et al. (2006); and V, Velicogna and Wahr (2006a). A less selective version of this plot was presented by Cazenave (2006).

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FIGURE 14.6

Recent changes of ice mass determined by the GRACE satellite experiment. (a) Greenland. (b) East and West Antarctica. Updated from Velicogna and Wahr (2006a, 2006b) and Velicogna (2009). Data courtesy of I. Velicogna.

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FIGURE 14.7

Schematic summary of processes determining rate of mass loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet in a warming climate.

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FIGURE 14.8

Antarctica in year 2000. The map shows ice velocities around the entire Antarctic continent (faster flow indicated by red color), and the six regions of largest inferred mass changes. Numbers give the mass changes in Gt yr−1. Adapted from Rignot et al. (2008). Velocity map courtesy of E. Rignot. (Refer to the insert for a color version of this figure)

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FIGURE 14.9

Schematic summary of processes determining rate of mass loss from the Antarctic Ice Sheet in a warming climate.