GRACE-derived land uplift model in Fennoscandia: Assessing the impact of hydrological loading on land uplift rates and uncertainty
2025 (English)In: Journal of Geodynamics, ISSN 0264-3707, E-ISSN 1879-1670, Vol. 166, article id 102122Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Studying the Glacial Isostatic Adjustment (GIA) and land uplift modeling can be carried out utilizing geodetic observations (GNSS and precise leveling measurements), and geophysical methods. The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite missions’ data has not been formally used in this context in Fennoscandia. If there is insufficient coverage of offshore or onshore data, existing estimates of GIA might be partially biased (by means of spatial pattern and magnitude), particularly over the Gulf of Bothnia where the land uplift rate reaches its maximum. To inspect this issue, we incorporated the GRACE data in estimates of the land uplift rate due to GIA. Despite satellite gravitational information having a low resolution (∼300 km) it can be used for this purpose because the GIA in Fennoscandia has a large-scale regional pattern. Our findings confirmed a bias in existing estimates. According to our results, the maximum land uplift rates reach 9.1 mm/year in the northern part of the Gulf of Bothnia, while previous estimates indicate that the maximum value is shifted westward towards land. Since GRACE data also comprises hydrological signals, we assessed its effect on the satellite gravitational information by applying different hydrological models. Our results ascertained that land uplift estimates in Fennoscandia were not significantly affected by long-term hydrological mass variations. According to our estimates over the period between 2003 and 2017, the hydrological loading effect was approximately 0.1 mm/year or less (in terms of the RMS differences when compared to the reference land uplift model). Hydrological signal variations (over the investigated period of two decades) were, therefore, dominated mainly by seasonal variations without the presence of secular trends. The results show that the land uplift model from GRACE has some discrepancies compared to existing models, so the main idea of this article is to combine land and satellite data. Therefore, we studied a combined land uplift model using GRACE and the latest land uplift model in Fennoscandia.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Elsevier BV , 2025. Vol. 166, article id 102122
Keywords [en]
Earth observation, Fennoscandia, Glacial Isostatic Adjustment, GNSS, GRACE, Hydrology, Land uplift, Remote sensing, Satellite gravimetry
National Category
Geophysics Oceanography, Hydrology and Water Resources
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-373142DOI: 10.1016/j.jog.2025.102122Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-105020742067OAI: oai:DiVA.org:kth-373142DiVA, id: diva2:2015470
Note
QC 20251121
2025-11-212025-11-212025-11-21Bibliographically approved