Abstract
Meltwater from glaciers plays an important role in fresh water resources as well as sea level rise associated with the ongoling warming climate. In this study, glacier mass changes are estimated using the terrestrial water storage (TWS) variations observed by the GRACE satellite. To identify the signal of glacier mass changes in TWS, soil moisture, snow mass and river storage components, simulated by a land surface model MATSIRO, were substracted from the TWS observed by GRACE. The estimated glacier mass changes were compared with that from simulations of a global glacier model, HYOGA2. From 2004 to 2007, GRACE showed a global glacier melt of -110Gt/yr with the largest melting in Alaska and Northern part of Canada. During the same period, the HYOGA2 simulation shows a glacier melt rate of -127Gt/year. While the global volume loss is similar, the melting rate is found to be different in different regions. The GRACE-based estimate of global glacier change would be valuable to improve global glacier modeling as well as enhancing the understanding of glacier mass changes.
