Fig. 3: Correlation of annual mass balances with atmospheric variables.

a,b, Correlation (lag zero) of each region’s annual mass-balance anomaly (MAR3.11 SMB) with the JJA mean of the z500 for ACN and SVA (reanalysis data) for 1963–1977 (a) and 2004–2018 (b). c,d, The same as a,b but with vertically integrated northward heat flux (nhf) for 1963–1977 (c) and 2004–2018 (d). Areas of significance (P < 0.05, considering autocorrelation in the SMB time series) are contained within yellow dotted contours. Correlations of SMB with the t2m are shown in Extended Data Fig. 4. Correlations of z500 and northward heat flux with GRACE/GRACE-FO derived mass balances (2004–2018) are shown in Extended Data Fig. 5.