Brief communication: Glacier run-off estimation using altimetry-derived basin volume change: case study at Humboldt Glacier, northwest Greenland

Abstract

CryoSat can provide temporal height change around the Greenland Ice Sheet including that close to the terminus of many glaciers. Height change from the northern outlet of the Humboldt Glacier in northwestern Greenland is combined with ice flux into and out of sections of the glacier basin to derive the water run-off each year from 2011 to 2019. The cumulative 9-year run-off for this part of the Humboldt basin is 9.6±2.9 km3 and is predominantly sub-glacial at the terminus, with large run-offs occurring in 2012, 2015, and 2019 and much smaller ones in 2013, 2016, 2017, and 2018.