Snapshots of circum-Greenland elevation change, viewed from the PROMICE airborne surveys in 2007, 2011, and 2015

For the Greenland ice sheet, the period from 2007-2015 is characterized by a large variability in climate conditions, with record-breaking melt in 2010 and 2012 and minor net mass loss in 2013. As a part of the Programme for Monitoring of the Greenland Ice Sheet (PROMICE) funded by the Danish Energy Agency, repeat airborne LiDAR surveys have been conducted in 2007, 2011 and 2015.

The surveys were conducted around the entire margin of Greenland ice sheet. In addition to LiDAR measurements, ice-penetrating radar measurements were carried out in 2007 and 2011, to estimate ice sheet thickness along the flight-path. As the only one of its kind, the repeat surveys have been performed in late summer, to coincide with the end of the balance year.

With the third survey successfully conducted in 2015, a unique opportunity for evaluating elevation changes at a consistent and tailored circum-Greenland fluxgate consist with this PROMICE dataset. Here, we combine available satellite observations of elevation changes of the Greenland ice sheet, with the PROMICE dataset, to estimate the state of the Greenland ice sheet seen from the PROMICE fluxgate.

The PROMICE LiDAR snapshots will guide the contemporary observations from satellites to target the balance year.