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Letter

Nature Geoscience 1, 106–110 (1 February 2008) | doi:10.1038/ngeo102

Recent Antarctic ice mass loss from radar|[nbsp]|interferometry and regional climate|[nbsp]|modelling

Eric Rignot , Jonathan L. Bamber , Michiel R. van den Broeke , Curt Davis , Yonghong Li , Willem Jan van de Berg & Erik van Meijgaard

Large uncertainties remain in the current and future contribution to sea level rise from Antarctica. Climate warming may increase snowfall in the continent|[rsquo]|s interior, but enhance glacier discharge at the coast where warmer air and ocean temperatures erode the buttressing ice shelves. Here, we use satellite interferometric synthetic-aperture radar observations from 1992 to 2006 covering 85|[percnt]| of Antarctica|[rsquo]|s coastline to estimate the total mass flux into the ocean.