Point measurements of mass balance of the Greenland Ice Sheet using precision vertical Global Positioning System (GPS) surveys

Rates of ice sheet thickening or thinning in Greenland are measured using the coffee-can technique. This entails computing the difference in the vertical velocity of markers anchored in firn and the long-term rate of snow accumulation. The velocities are obtained from repeat surveys using the Global Positioning System (GPS). With corrections for densification and along-slope flow, this difference is the local mass balance. For two sites in western Greenland (Camp Century and a site just south of the EGIG line (Crawford Point)) results show ice sheet thinning. A third west Greenland site (inland from Upernavik) is close to balance. Two sites, Dye-2 in westem Greenland and Summit, are thickening slowly.