Mass balance of the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets from the 1970s to 2023
GB/NERC/BAS/PDC/02074
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Summary
Abstract:
This dataset contains rates and cumulative anomalies in surface mass balance, dynamics, and total mass change and their associated uncertainty for the Antarctic Ice Sheet (in its entirety and split into West Antarctica, East Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula) for the period 1979 to 2023 and for the Greenland Ice Sheet for the period 1972 to 2023. The data are reconciled estimates of mass balance from three independent satellite-based techniques: altimetry, gravimetry, and the input-output method. This dataset is part of the Ice Sheet Mass Balance Intercomparison Exercise (IMBIE).
This work is an outcome of the Ice Sheet Mass Balance Inter-comparison Exercise (IMBIE) supported by ESA EOEP-5 "EO Science for Society" (Contract Number 4000134549/21/I-NB), the ESA "Climate Change Initiative" (Contract Number 4000126813/19/I-NB), and the NASA Cryosphere Program.
Keywords:
Antarctica, Earth observation, Greenland, ice sheet, satellite, sea level rise
Citation
Otosaka, I., Shepherd, A., Amory, C., Horwath, M., King, M., Nowicki, S., Payne, A., Rignot, E., S?rensen, L., Schlegel, N., Simon, K., Smith, B., Sutterley, T., van den Broeke, M., Velicogna, I., A, G., Agosta, C., Ditmar, P., Dohne, T., ... Wouters, B. (2026). Mass balance of the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets from the 1970s to 2023 (Version 1.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/128c5e33-5224-4197-82f0-19dcc95b80a0
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Constraints
| Access Constraints: | No restrictions apply. |
|---|---|
| Use Constraints: | Data supplied under Open Government Licence v3.0 http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/. |
Basic Information
| Creation Date: | 2025-06-25 |
|---|---|
| Dataset Progress: | Complete |
| Dataset Language: | English |
| ISO Topic Categories: |
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| Parameters: |
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| Personnel: | |
| Name | UK Polar Data Centre |
| Role(s) | Metadata Author |
| Organisation | British Antarctic Survey |
| Name | Inès N Otosaka |
| Role(s) | Technical Contact, Investigator |
| Organisation | Northumbria University |
| Name | Andrew Shepherd |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | Northumbria University |
| Name | Charles Amory |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | Grenoble Alpes University |
| Name | Martin Horwath |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | TUD Dresden University of Technology |
| Name | Michalea D King |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | University of Washington Applied Physics Laboratory |
| Name | Sophie Nowicki |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | University at Buffalo |
| Name | Antony J Payne |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | University of Liverpool |
| Name | Eric Rignot |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | University of California Irvine |
| Name | Louise Sandberg Sørensen |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | Technical University of Denmark |
| Name | Nicole-Jeanne Schlegel |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory |
| Name | Karen M Simon |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | Canadian Geodetic Survey |
| Name | Benjamin E Smith |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | University of Washington Applied Physics Laboratory |
| Name | Tyler C Sutterley |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | University of Washington Applied Physics Laboratory |
| Name | Michiel R van den Broeke |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | Utrecht University |
| Name | Isabella Velicogna |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | University of California Irvine |
| Name | Geruo A |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | University of California Irvine |
| Name | Cécile Agosta |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | University of Paris-Saclay |
| Name | Pavel Ditmar |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | Delft University of Technology |
| Name | Thorben Döhne |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | TUD Dresden University of Technology |
| Name | Marcus E Engdahl |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | European Space Agency |
| Name | Xavier Fettweis |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | University of Liège |
| Name | Rene Forsberg |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | Technical University of Denmark |
| Name | Alex S Gardner |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | California Institute of Technology |
| Name | Linda Gilbert |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | University College London |
| Name | Heiko Goelzer |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research |
| Name | Noel Gourmelen |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | University of Edinburgh |
| Name | Andreas Groh |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | TUD Dresden University of Technology |
| Name | Nicolaj Hansen |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | Danish Meteorological Institute |
| Name | Christopher Harig |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | University of Arizona |
| Name | Veit Helm |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | Alfred-Wegener-Institute |
| Name | Shfaqat A Khan |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | Technical University of Denmark |
| Name | Christoph Kittel |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | University of Liège |
| Name | Peter L Langen |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | Aarhus University |
| Name | Mathias Larsen |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | Aarhus University |
| Name | Bryant D Loomis |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | Goddard Space Flight Center |
| Name | Malcolm McMillan |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | Lancaster University |
| Name | Brooke Medley |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | Goddard Space Flight Center |
| Name | Daniele Melini |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology |
| Name | Ruth H Mottram |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | Danish Meteorological Institute |
| Name | Alan Muir |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | University College London |
| Name | Johan Nilsson |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | California Institute of Technology |
| Name | Brice Noël |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | University of Liège |
| Name | Mark E Pattle |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | isardSAT |
| Name | Mònica Roca i Aparici |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | isardSAT |
| Name | Ingo Sasgen |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | Alfred-Wegener-Institute |
| Name | Himanshu V Save |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | The University of Texas at Austin |
| Name | Bernd Scheuchl |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | University of California Irvine |
| Name | Ernst J O Schrama |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | Delft University of Technology |
| Name | Ludwig Schröder |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | TUD Dresden University of Technology |
| Name | Ki-Weon Seo |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | Seoul National University |
| Name | Sebastian B Simonsen |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | Technical University of Denmark |
| Name | Thomas Slater |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | Northumbria University |
| Name | Giorgio Spada |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | University of Bologna |
| Name | Bramha Dutt Vishwakarma |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | Indian Institute of Science |
| Name | Nander Wever |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF |
| Name | David N Wiese |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | California Institute of Technology |
| Name | Bert Wouters |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | Delft University of Technology |
| Parent Dataset: | N/A |
Additional Information
| Reference: | The methods to produce this dataset are fully described in Otosaka et al. (2026). | |
|---|---|---|
| Quality: | The data are reconciled estimates from 45 individual satellite-based surveys derived from the altimetry, gravimetry and input-output techniques. The respective one sigma uncertainties for each reconciled dataset are provided. | |
| Lineage/Methodology: | The data used to produce this reconciled mass balance estimate were gathered in the framework of the IMBIE project. In total, 45 independent satellite estimates of mass change (21 estimates for Antarctica and 24 estimates for Greenland) were used to produce this final dataset. The methodology to aggregate these into a final estimate is described in Otosaka et al. (2026). | |
Locality
| Temporal Coverage: | |
|---|---|
| Start Date | 1971-07-01 |
| End Date | 2023-12-01 |
| Start Date | 1979-01-01 |
| End Date | 2023-12-01 |
| Spatial Coverage: | |
| Latitude | |
| Southernmost | 60 |
| Northernmost | 90 |
| Longitude | |
| Westernmost | -80 |
| Easternmost | 10 |
| Altitude | |
| Min Altitude | N/A |
| Max Altitude | N/A |
| Depth | |
| Min Depth | N/A |
| Max Depth | N/A |
| Latitude | |
| Southernmost | -90 |
| Northernmost | -60 |
| Longitude | |
| Westernmost | -180 |
| Easternmost | 180 |
| Altitude | |
| Min Altitude | N/A |
| Max Altitude | N/A |
| Depth | |
| Min Depth | N/A |
| Max Depth | N/A |
| Data Resolution: | |
| Latitude Resolution | N/A |
| Longitude Resolution | N/A |
| Horizontal Resolution Range | N/A |
| Vertical Resolution | N/A |
| Vertical Resolution Range | N/A |
| Temporal Resolution | monthly |
| Temporal Resolution Range | N/A |
| Location: | |
| Location | Greenland |
| Detailed Location | N/A |
| Location | Antarctica |
| Detailed Location | Antarctic Peninsula, East Antarctica, West Antarctica |
Instrumentation
| Data Collection: | Each dataset contributed to the IMBIE project was processed independently by their contributors and the methods and errors on their dataset have been documented in an international peer-reviewed journal. A dedicated processor was developed in Python to compute the reconciled mass balance estimate and its uncertainty, and the core code is freely available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14217193 (Otosaka, I. N., Gilbert, L., Pattle, M., Roca-Aparici, M., & Shepherd, A. (2024). IMBIE software v3.1. Zenodo). |
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Storage
| Distribution: | |
|---|---|
| Distribution Media | Online Internet (HTTP) |
| Distribution Size | 877 kB |
| Distribution Format | ASCII |
| Fees | N/A |
| Data Storage: | The data are provided in 10 CSV files, with 2 for each location. The first file imbie3_location_partitioned_Gt.csv is the mass balance of the given location in Gigatonnes and the second file imbie3_location_partitioned_mm.csv is the same data but converted to an equivalent sea level contribution in millimetres by assuming that 360 Gt of ice lost is equivalent to 1 mm sea level rise. The files contain the following variables: - Date - Mass balance (Gt/yr or mm/yr) - Mass balance uncertainty (Gt/yr or mm/yr) - Cumulative mass balance anomaly (Gt or mm) - Cumulative mass balance anomaly uncertainty (Gt or mm) - Surface mass balance anomaly (Gt/yr or mm/yr) - Surface mass balance anomaly uncertainty (Gt/yr or mm/yr) - Cumulative surface mass balance anomaly (Gt or mm) - Cumulative surface mass balance anomaly uncertainty (Gt or mm) - Dynamics mass balance anomaly (Gt/yr or mm/yr) - Dynamics mass balance anomaly uncertainty (Gt/yr or mm/yr) - Cumulative dynamics mass balance anomaly (Gt or mm) - Cumulative dynamics mass balance anomaly uncertainty (Gt or mm) And the locations are the following: - antarctic_peninsula - Antarctic Peninsula - antarctica - Antarctic Ice Sheet - east_antarctica - East Antarctic Ice Sheet - greenland - Greenland Ice Sheet - west_antarctica - West Antarctic Ice Sheet |