Assessment of the Greenland ice sheet change (2011–2021) derived from CryoSat-2

The Greenland ice sheet melting status is critical for global sea level rise and climate change. Based on the CryoSat-2 altimetry data from 2011 to 2021, the 5 km × 5 km DEMs of the Greenland ice sheet were derived by adopting the kriging interpolation method. Then the changes in elevation and volume of the ice sheet were calculated by using the intersection method. The changes in the ice sheet were analysed, and the results show that: (1) The accuracy of the Greenland DEMs obtained based on satellite altimetry data is region-dependent, with better accuracy in inland areas and higher elevation errors in marginal areas. (2) The inland area elevation remains unchanged basically or even shows an increasing trend, and there is an apparent melting trend in the marginal area, especially on the west coast. The contribution of the ice sheet melting mainly comes from elevations below 2000 m. (3) The main body of the Greenland ice sheet is melting with an elevation change rate of −13.27 ± 0.86 cm·a−1 and a volume change rate of −202.47 ± 14.8 km³·a−1. The rate of the Greenland ice sheet thinning has slowed down compared with the changes from 2003 to 2009.