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Many glaciers along the southeast and northwest coast of Greenland have accelerated, increasing the ice sheet's contribution to global sea-level rise. Here, we map elevation changes on Upernavik Isstrøm (UI), West Greenland, during 2003-2009 using high-resolution Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) laser altimeter data supplemented with altimeter surveys from NASA's Airborne Topographic Mapper (ATM) during 2002-2010. To assess thinning prior to 2002, we analyze aerial photographs from 1985. We document at least two distinct ice loss events characterized by rapid dynamic thinning, increased ice speed, and a retreat of the calving front. The most recent event coincides with the speedup of several glaciers along the northwest coast of Greenland in 2005, and with changes in the rate of mass loss observed using data from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite gravity mission. The first event of increased ice loss could have also taken place along the extended northwest coast. The total dynamic induced ice volume loss on the frontal portion of UI caused by the two events is 45.5 +/- 5.4 km3 (during 1985-2010), while the total melt induced ice volume loss during this same period is 7.4 +/- 1.3 km3.

Many glaciers along the southeast and northwest coast of Greenland have accelerated, increasing the ice sheet's contribution to global sea-level rise. Here, we map elevation changes on Upernavik Isstrøm (UI), West Greenland, during 2003-2009 using high-resolution Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) laser altimeter data supplemented with altimeter surveys from NASA's Airborne Topographic Mapper (ATM) during 2002-2010. To assess thinning prior to 2002, we analyze aerial photographs from 1985. We document at least two distinct ice loss events characterized by rapid dynamic thinning, increased ice speed, and a retreat of the calving front. The most recent event coincides with the speedup of several glaciers along the northwest coast of Greenland in 2005, and with changes in the rate of mass loss observed using data from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite gravity mission. The first event of increased ice loss could have also taken place along the extended northwest coast. The total dynamic induced ice volume loss on the frontal portion of UI caused by the two events is 45.5 +/- 5.4 km3 (during 1985-2010), while the total melt induced ice volume loss during this same period is 7.4 +/- 1.3 km3.

Many glaciers along the southeast and northwest coast of Greenland have accelerated, increasing the ice sheet's contribution to global sea-level rise. Here, we map elevation changes on Upernavik Isstrøm (UI), West Greenland, during 2003-2009 using high-resolution Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) laser altimeter data supplemented with altimeter surveys from NASA's Airborne Topographic Mapper (ATM) during 2002-2010. To assess thinning prior to 2002, we analyze aerial photographs from 1985. We document at least two distinct ice loss events characterized by rapid dynamic thinning, increased ice speed, and a retreat of the calving front. The most recent event coincides with the speedup of several glaciers along the northwest coast of Greenland in 2005, and with changes in the rate of mass loss observed using data from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite gravity mission. The first event of increased ice loss could have also taken place along the extended northwest coast. The total dynamic induced ice volume loss on the frontal portion of UI caused by the two events is 45.5 +/- 5.4 km3 (during 1985-2010), while the total melt induced ice volume loss during this same period is 7.4 +/- 1.3 km3.

Many glaciers along the southeast and northwest coast of Greenland have accelerated, increasing the ice sheet's contribution to global sea-level rise. Here, we map elevation changes on Upernavik Isstrøm (UI), West Greenland, during 2003-2009 using high-resolution Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) laser altimeter data supplemented with altimeter surveys from NASA's Airborne Topographic Mapper (ATM) during 2002-2010. To assess thinning prior to 2002, we analyze aerial photographs from 1985. We document at least two distinct ice loss events characterized by rapid dynamic thinning, increased ice speed, and a retreat of the calving front. The most recent event coincides with the speedup of several glaciers along the northwest coast of Greenland in 2005, and with changes in the rate of mass loss observed using data from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite gravity mission. The first event of increased ice loss could have also taken place along the extended northwest coast. The total dynamic induced ice volume loss on the frontal portion of UI caused by the two events is 45.5 +/- 5.4 km3 (during 1985-2010), while the total melt induced ice volume loss during this same period is 7.4 +/- 1.3 km3.

Ice mass changes in the Greenland Ice Sheet have been estimated since the early 1990s from the GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) satellite gravity mission, of ice sheet thinning from satellite radar altimetry and airborne laser altimetry, and of increased velocities of outlet glaciers from radar interferometric surveys. Prior to 2000 existing altimetry data provides comparatively limited spatial resolution and ice losses near ice sheet margins are most likely underestimated and existing data is unable to document the persisting change within outlet glaciers. Subsequent estimates for the entire ice sheet show increased mass loss from 137 Gt/yr in 2002–2003 to 286 Gt/yr in 2007–2009. Also evidence from the GRACE, GPS (Global Positioning System), and ICESat (Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite) as well as surface mass balance data suggests there is an ongoing northward migration of increasing dynamic induced ice loss. GRACE data show that this increased mass loss initiated in 2005 ceased in late 2009, thus, defining a dynamic thinning event as seen previous along the coast in southeast Greenland. Here, we present a multi-decadal perspective on ice mass change from northwestern Greenland using the stereoscopic coverage by aerial photographs recorded in 1985, which captures the beginning of the present warming in the late 1980s. The derived Digital Elevation Model (DEM) based on the aerial photographs are superior in coverage and spatial resolution to other early surface change records with a 25 m grid resolution and vertical uncertainty of 4.6m. Comparative DEMs were derived from laser altimetry data recorded in 2005 and 2010. Ice loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) can be partitioned into surface mass balance (SMB) processes (runoff and precipitation) and ice dynamics. For the marginal part of northwestern Greenland, we calculate a mass loss between 1985-2005 to 239 km3 and between 2005-2010 to 193 km3. The SMB contribute with respective