Analysis of East Antarctic drainage basins with altimetric, interferometric, gravity and GPS techniques to determine their state of flux

Public This project will reassess the mass balance of Law Dome and a large sector of the Antarctic ice sheet south of Casey by exploiting the time history of change that can be obtained by resurveying historical surface elevation and gravity networks, started in the 1960s. The changes in position and gravity from these terrestrial traverses act as important constraints and, in some cases, calibration for recent satellite altimeter missions.

Such a reassessment and model improvement should see a significant drop in the current uncertainty of the contribution of the Antarctic ice sheet to global sea level rise. 2007-2008 Season: Historical and recent data over Law Dome has been successfully re-reduced and integrated with recent satellite data over a period spanning 1962 to 2005. These data show that the surface elevation of Law Dome decreased from 1962 to about 1971 and then generally increased till 2005 indicating that ice volumes have recently varied over decadal time spans.