Mass balance of the Greenland Ice Sheet
How much ice is actually lost or gained every year from the Greenland Ice Sheet? Monitoring the mass balance of the ice sheet gives us an estimation of how much ice is lost every year, how much ice is lost in total over the years and how much sea level rise that converts into.
Ice sheet mass balance per Arctic hydrological year
Here is the daily mass change per hydrological year, starting in 1987 and shown in billions of tons (Gt) as rounded estimates.
You are able to compare the estimates of the current hydrological year with a selected year and also with the average of 1991-2020. An Arctic hydrological year goes from 1 September in one year to 31 August in the following year. This is a full hydrologic circle of loss and gain for the ice sheet.
The current hydrological year shows the estimates up until present day and is updated daily.
Annual ice sheet mass balance per Arctic hydrological year
Based on measurements from PROMICE and GC-Net we can estimate the amount of ice lost or gained from the whole of the Greenland Ice Sheet on a yearly basis since 1986. Here we show the total mass balance as total mass gained through one winter season and loss during the following summer season (Sep. 1st – Aug. 31st) in billions of tons (Gt) as rounded estimates.
Get our data, going all the way back to 1840.
A lot of water
The average annual mass loss from 1986 – 2023 distributed
as water amongst the entire human population, would give you
58 liters each day all year
Ice/sea level conversion
For every billion tonnes ice melted (1 Gt),
global sea level rises roughly
0.0028 mm
If everything melts
If the entirety of the Greenland Ice Sheet melts,
it will equal a global sea level rise of roughly
7.4 metres
Accumulated ice sheet mass balance since 1986
When accumulating yearly mass loss and mass gain from the Greenland Ice Sheet, we get this graph showing total mass loss from the ice since 1986 reaching around 5,500 billion tonnes (Gt) in 2022. Here shown alongside yearly mass balance as total mass gained through one winter season and loss during the following summer season (Sep. 1st – Aug. 31st) in billions of tons (Gt) as rounded estimates.
See our daily estimates of total mass lost in the present year here.
Sea level rise 1986 – 2023
The total mass lost from the Greenland Ice Sheet since 1986 converted to global sea level rise shown in millimeters (mm). Since 1986 the contribution to global sea level rise from the ice sheet has reached around 15 mm. Here, every year accounts for total mass gained through one winter season and loss during the following summer season (Sep. 1st – Aug. 31st).
Follow our daily estimate for sea level rise contribution from the Greenland Ice Sheet here.
