Abstract
The advent of space geodetic satellites as represented by the gravimetry satellite GRACE and the laser altimetry satellite ICESat has enabled remote and continuous monitoring of the glacier mass balance in extensive areas of Asia high mountains. As of now, the glacier mass balance there has been estimated by Matsuo and Heki (2010) and Jacob et al. (2012) using GRACE gravity data. However, these two estimates are significantly different each other, i.e. the former suggests substantial ice loss of〜47 Gtyr−1, and the latter does slight ice loss of〜11 Gt yr−1. In this article, we review these two studies and describe several important points to consider when studying Asian high mountains with GRACE. Then we re-estimate the glacier mass balance there using the latest GRACE data set (Release05) and the new inversion technique. We also review the latest reports based on the ICESat laser altimetry.
