Measuring changes in
Antarctic land ice mass has been a difficult process due to the ice sheet's massive size and complexity.
Figure 2 shows gravity measurements
of land ice mass changes in Antarctica for the period April 2002 to February 2009 (Velicogna 2009).
When the loading of the lithosphere and / or the mantle is changed by alterations
in land ice mass, ocean mass, sedimentation, erosion or mountain building, vertical isostatic adjustment results, in order to balance the new load.
As for the Antarctic,
the land ice mass there is actually growing, according to satellite altimeters.