| Title | Mass balance of ice caps in the Queen Elizabeth Islands, Arctic Canada: 2014-2015 |
| Download | Downloads |
| |
| 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 8223, 2017, 36 pages, https://doi.org/10.4095/300231  Open Access |
| Links | American Meteorological Society
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| Links | World Glacier Monitoring Service
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| Image |  |
| Year | 2017 |
| 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 | 38F; 38G; 48E; 48F; 48G; 48H; 69G; 69H; 88G; 88H; 120B; 120C; 340A; 340D; 560B |
| Area | Canadian Arctic Archipelago; Queen Elizabeth Islands; Devon Island; Melville Island; Meighen Island; Ellesmere Island |
| Lat/Long WENS | -128.0000 -56.0000 84.0000 74.0000 |
| Subjects | surficial geology/geomorphology; Nature and Environment; glaciers; icefields; glacier surveys; ice thickness; ablation; climate; sea level changes; meteorology; remote sensing; satellite imagery;
LANDSAT imagery; basin analyses; Devon Ice Cap; Meighen Ice Cap; South Melville Ice Cap; Agassiz Ice Cap; Sverdup Glacier; Drambuie Glacier; Climate change; monitoring; Phanerozoic; Cenozoic; Quaternary |
| Illustrations | location maps; satellite images; sketch maps; time series; tables; graphs |
| Program | Climate Change Geoscience Essential Climate Variable Monitoring |
| Program | Polar Continental Shelf Program
|
| Released | 2017 05 10 |
| Abstract | In-situ glacier mass balance surveys were conducted by Natural Resources Canada in April/May 2016 across the Devon, Meighen, South Melville, and Agassiz Ice Caps, Queen Elizabeth Islands. Survey results
indicate significantly negative values over all ice caps in the 2014-2015 mass balance year with Meighen and Melville Ice Caps experiencing the fourth most negative mass balance year on record thinning by -115 and -89 cm respectively while the Devon
Ice Cap, which thinned by -39 cm, experienced the sixth most negative year on record. After the relatively cool summers of 2013 and 2014, extremely negative mass balance values for 2014-2015 are more consistent with the post-2005 trend during which
melt rates of high Arctic glaciers have been 3-5 times more negative than the long-term (1960-2013) average. The climatic net mass balance measurements from the Agassiz and Devon (NW) Ice Caps indicated an increase of the Equilibrium Line Altitude by
300 m and 400 m respectively relative to the long-term means. Associated water equivalent mass loss of 0.68, 0.052, and 0.053 Gt for the Devon (NW), Meighen, and South Melville Ice Caps respectively indicate a net positive contribution to global
sea-level rise from these three sites for the 2014-2015 balance year. |
| Summary | (Plain Language Summary, not published)
This open file reports on the in-situ glacier mass balance surveys conducted by Natural Resources Canada across 4 ice caps (Meighen, Melville, Agassiz,
and Devon ice caps) in the Canadian Arctic as part of an ongoing monitoring program to assess climatic conditions (ie. snow accumulation and summer melting) and freshwater fluxes to the ocean originating from glacier sources across this region.
Results from the 2016 surveys indicate that basin-wide balances for the Meighen, Melville, and Devon ice caps 4-6 times more negative than the long-term average. A ~300 m increase of the Equilibrium Line Altitude across the Agassiz ice cap relative
to the long-term mean similarly reflects unusual warming, particularly at high elevations across this region. After the relatively cool summers of 2013 and 2014, extremely negative mass balance values for 2014-2015 indicate a return to the post-2005
conditions during which time melt rates have been higher across the Canadian high Arctic than in several millennia. |
| GEOSCAN ID | 300231 |
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