| Title | Mass balance of the Devon (NW), Meighen, and South Melville ice caps, Queen Elizabeth Islands for the 2013-2014 balance year |
| Download | Downloads |
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| Licence | Please note the adoption of the Open Government Licence - Canada
supersedes any previous licences. |
| Author | Burgess, D O |
| Source | Geological Survey of Canada, Open File 8037, 2016, 31 pages, https://doi.org/10.4095/297831  Open Access |
| Links | American Meteorological Society
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| Links | World Glacier Monitoring Service
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| Image |  |
| Year | 2016 |
| Publisher | Natural Resources Canada |
| Document | open file |
| Lang. | English |
| Media | on-line; digital |
| Related | This publication is related to the following
publications |
| File format | pdf |
| Province | Northwest Territories; Nunavut |
| NTS | 48G; 48H; 58G; 58H; 68G; 68H; 78G; 78H; 88G; 88H; 49; 59; 69; 79; 89; 560; 340 |
| Area | Devon Island; Melville Island; Meighen Island; Queen Elizabeth Islands |
| Lat/Long WENS | -120.0000 -80.0000 84.0000 75.0000 |
| Subjects | surficial geology/geomorphology; Nature and Environment; icefields; glaciers; ice thickness; sea level changes; sea level fluctuations; Devon ice cap; Meighen ice cap; South Melville ice cap |
| Illustrations | location maps; plots; photographs; tables |
| Program | Climate Change Geoscience Essential Climate Variable Monitoring |
| Released | 2016 04 15 |
| Abstract | In-situ glacier mass balance surveys were conducted across the Devon, Meighen, and South Melville ice caps in the Canadian high Arctic by Natural Resources Canada during spring, 2015. Survey results
indicate positive net balance value of 6 cm w.e. for the Meighen ice cap while the Devon Ice Cap and South Melville Ice Cap experienced slightly negative mass balance values of -25 and -16 cm w.e. respectively. Results from these glacier surveys are
indicative of relatively cool conditions that prevailed across this region during the summer of 2014. Associated water equivalent volume change for the Devon (NW), Meighen, and South Melville ice caps was -0.418, 0.003, and -0.006 Gt respectively
which resulted in a net positive contribution to global sea-level rise from these 3 sites for the 2013-2014 balance year. |
| Summary | (Plain Language Summary, not published)
The Canadian high Arctic holds the single largest mass of ice outside of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. Knowledge of annual glacier mass balance
(ie. the difference between input[snow] and output[melt] for any given year) in this region thus provides a robust indicator of climate change, and facilitates assessments of contributions to global sea-level from Canadian glaciers and ice caps. This
report presents a summary of results from the 2015 glacier mass balance surveys which represents the 2013-2014 mass balance year over the Devon, Melville South, and Meighen ice caps. Overall, glacier mass balance in the Queen Elizabeth Islands for
2013-2014 indicated a slightly negative mass balance reflecting relatively cool conditions that prevailed across this region during the summer of 2013 relative to the post-2005 period. |
| GEOSCAN ID | 297831 |
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