Full Record - Mass balance of the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets from the 1970s to 2023

Mass balance of the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets from the 1970s to 2023

GB/NERC/BAS/PDC/02074

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.

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

Access Data

GET DATA:

http://ramadda.data.bas.ac.uk/repository/entry/show?entryid=128c5e33-5224-4197-82f0-19dcc95b80a0

License

Access:	No restrictions apply.
Use:	Data supplied under Open Government Licence v3.0 http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/.

Authors

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

Basic Information

Creation Date:	2025-06-25
Dataset Progress:	Complete
Dataset Language:	English
ISO Topic Categories:	Climatology/Meteorology/Atmosphere Inland Waters Oceans
Parameters:	Cryosphere > Glaciers/Ice Sheets > Glacier Mass Balance/Ice Sheet Mass Balance Cryosphere > Glaciers/Ice Sheets > Ice Sheets Hydrosphere > Glaciers/Ice Sheets > Glacier Mass Balance/Ice Sheet Mass Balance Hydrosphere > Glaciers/Ice Sheets > Ice Sheets Oceans > Coastal Processes > Sea Level Rise

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).

PROJECT HOME PAGE:

http://imbie.org/

RELATED DATA SET METADATA:

https://doi.org/10.5285/77b64c55-7166-4a06-9def-2e400398e452

SOFTWARE PACKAGES:

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14217193

Extent

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).

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).

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

Discovery Metadata System

BAS Discovery Metadata System