Ice Sheets and Ice Shelves

A factsheet cover titled "Ice Sheets and Ice Shelves" with logos of global climate organizations, against a background of an ice sheet and calm water.
The understanding of the timescale of ice sheet response to climate change has changed dramatically over the last decade. Rapid changes in ice-sheet mass have surely contributed to abrupt changes in climate and sea level in the past.

Greenland Ice Sheet

Until 2007, rate of decrease in ice sheet height in cm per year.

Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cambios_en_la_capa_de_hielo_de_…; Work of the United States Federal Government under the terms of Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 105 of the US Code.

ECV Products and Requirements

These products and requirements reflect the Implementation Plan 2022 (GCOS-244).

The requirements are found in the complete 2022 ECVs Requirements document as well: ECV Ice Sheets and Ice Shelves.

Products Surface Elevation Change  Ice Velocity  Ice Volume Change  Grounding Line Location and Thickness
 (*)UnitValues UnitValues UnitValues UnitValues
Horizontal ResolutionGm  m50 km  m100
B  100    
T100 1000 50 1000
Vertical ResolutionG -  -     -
B- -   -
T- -   -
Temporal ResolutionGmonth1 month1 d30 y 
B       
T12 12 365 1
TimelinessG           
B       
T       
Required Measurement Uncertainty (2-sigma)Gm y-1  m y-110 km3 y-1  m1
B  30    
T0.1 100 10 10
StabilityGm y-1  m y-1  km3 y-1  m 
B       
T0.01 10 1 1

(*) Goal (G): an ideal requirement above which further improvements are not necessary. Breakthrough (B): an intermediate level between threshold and goal which, if achieved, would result in a significant improvement for the targeted application. The breakthrough value may also indicate the level at which specified uses within climate monitoring become possible. It may be appropriate to have different breakthrough values for different uses. Threshold (T): the minimum requirement to be met to ensure that data are useful.

Data sources

This list provides sources for openly accessible data sets with worldwide coverage for which metadata is available. It is curated by the respective GCOS ECV Steward(s). The list does not claim to be complete. Anyone with a suitable dataset who wishes it to be added to this list should contact the abombelliatwmo [dot] int (GCOS Secretariat).

Ice sheets and ice shelves
Domain:
Land
Subdomain:
Cryosphere
Scientific Area:
Snow and Ice
ECV Steward:
Hiroyuki Enomoto
Products:
Surface Elevation Change; Ice Velocity; Ice Mass Change; Grounding Line Location and Thickness