Characterized by fast movement, low surface slope and grounding below sea level, Pine Island Glacier (PIG) plays an important role in the stability of the West Antarctic ice sheet. In previous work, we reported that the spatial distribution of 1995–2003 surface lowering in PIG suggests an attribution of changes to an internally forced process in the glacier. Other work associates changes in PIG entirely with processes in its ice shelf. Here time series of maps of surface elevation change in PIG and its ice shelf are derived from geostatistical analysis of ICESat GLAS and ERS-1 radar altimeter data. Based on spatio-temporal analysis of 1995–2007 elevation change, we discuss indications of processes that initiate from changes in the ice shelf versus processes that start internally in the glacier. Thinning rates continued to increase after 2003, regionally to >15 m a–1. The initiation of acceleration occurred in the interior of the ice stream, while in later years largest elevation loss was driven by changes in the ice shelf and upward propagation. By 2006, the region of thinning had expanded up-glacier beyond the initial areas of surface lowering to 100 km above the hinge line. More than one process causes dynamically complex changes in PIG.