Mass changes of the Antarctic Peninsula ice sheet and peripheral glaciers, 2007–2021
Abstract
The Antarctic Peninsula (AP), encompassing the ice sheet and its peripheral glaciers, is a highly dynamic component of the cryosphere that disproportionately contributes to sea-level rise relative to its size. However, a large spread remains between the mass changes estimated using gravimetry, altimetry and the mass budget method. Among these techniques, the satellite (radar or laser) altimetry method has a resolution of, at best, 1 km, which is too coarse to resolve the mountainous landscape of the Peninsula. Therefore, we use digital elevation models (DEMs; 30 × 30 m) to provide an estimate of mass changes across the AP between 2007 and 2021. We combine 476 DEMs derived from SPOT5-HRS satellite images (2006–2008) and 2525 DEMs of the Reference Elevation Model of Antarctica (2020–2022) to map elevation changes for the entire Peninsula. We vertically adjusted each DEM using near-coincident ICESat/-2 laser altimetry measurements. Our observations cover 70 % of the AP Ice Sheet and 60 % of its peripheral glaciers, including regions of the Peninsula poorly studied to date, and reveal a spatially complex pattern of elevation changes. After correction with different models of firn air content and solid-earth response, we find that between 2007 and 2021, the AP Ice Sheet lost 28 ± 6 Gt a −1 while its peripheral glaciers lost 14 ± 3 Gt a −1 . For the AP Ice Sheet, our new estimate is 4 to 5 times more negative than the one obtained in IMBIE using altimetry data (−5.2 ± 1.8 Gt a −1 from 2007 to 2019) and in better agreement with gravimetry and the mass budget method. Our study highlights the importance of resolving fine scale elevation changes of glaciers and ice sheets in complex, dynamic coastal areas.
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BibTeX
@article{bernat2026mass,
title = {{Mass changes of the Antarctic Peninsula ice sheet and peripheral glaciers, 2007–2021}},
author = {Maud Bernat and Etienne Berthier and Amaury Dehecq and Romain Hugonnet and Joaquin Belart and Naomi Ochwat and Peter Kuipers Munneke and Elizabeth Case and Ted Scambos and Louis-Marie Gauer and David Youssefi},
journal = {The Cryosphere},
year = {2026},
month = may,
doi = {10.5194/tc-20-3025-2026},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05799328v1},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Mass changes of the Antarctic Peninsula ice sheet and peripheral glaciers, 2007–2021
AU - Maud Bernat
AU - Etienne Berthier
AU - Amaury Dehecq
AU - Romain Hugonnet
AU - Joaquin Belart
AU - Naomi Ochwat
AU - Peter Kuipers Munneke
AU - Elizabeth Case
AU - Ted Scambos
AU - Louis-Marie Gauer
AU - David Youssefi
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/05/22
JO - The Cryosphere
DO - 10.5194/tc-20-3025-2026
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05799328v1
AB - The Antarctic Peninsula (AP), encompassing the ice sheet and its peripheral glaciers, is a highly dynamic component of the cryosphere that disproportionately contributes to sea-level rise relative to its size. However, a large spread remains between the mass changes estimated using gravimetry, altimetry and the mass budget method. Among these techniques, the satellite (radar or laser) altimetry method has a resolution of, at best, 1 km, which is too coarse to resolve the mountainous landscape of the Peninsula. Therefore, we use digital elevation models (DEMs; 30 × 30 m) to provide an estimate of mass changes across the AP between 2007 and 2021. We combine 476 DEMs derived from SPOT5-HRS satellite images (2006–2008) and 2525 DEMs of the Reference Elevation Model of Antarctica (2020–2022) to map elevation changes for the entire Peninsula. We vertically adjusted each DEM using near-coincident ICESat/-2 laser altimetry measurements. Our observations cover 70 % of the AP Ice Sheet and 60 % of its peripheral glaciers, including regions of the Peninsula poorly studied to date, and reveal a spatially complex pattern of elevation changes. After correction with different models of firn air content and solid-earth response, we find that between 2007 and 2021, the AP Ice Sheet lost 28 ± 6 Gt a −1 while its peripheral glaciers lost 14 ± 3 Gt a −1 . For the AP Ice Sheet, our new estimate is 4 to 5 times more negative than the one obtained in IMBIE using altimetry data (−5.2 ± 1.8 Gt a −1 from 2007 to 2019) and in better agreement with gravimetry and the mass budget method. Our study highlights the importance of resolving fine scale elevation changes of glaciers and ice sheets in complex, dynamic coastal areas.
SN - 1994-0424
SN - 1994-0416
ER -