Abstract
Vertical land motion (VLM) from past and ongoing glacial changes can
amplify or mitigate ongoing relative sea level change. We present a high
resolution VLM-model for the wider Arctic, that includes both
present-day ice loading (PDIL) and glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA).
The study shows that the non-linear elastic uplift from PDIL is
significant (0.5-1 mm/y ) in most of the wider Arctic and exceeds GIA at
15 of 54 Arctic GNSSsites, including sites in non-glaciated areas of the
North Sea region and the east coast of North America. Thereby the sea
level change from PDIL (1.85 mm/y) is significantly mitigated from VLM
caused by PDIL. The combined VLM-model was consistent with measured VLM
at 85% of the GNSS-sites (R=0.77) and outperformed a GIA-only model
(R=0.64). Deviations from GNSS-measured VLM can be attributed to local
circumstances causing VLM.