| Title | The mass balance of the Athabasca and Saskatchewan sectors of the Columbia Icefield, Alberta for 2015 and 2016 |
| Download | Downloads |
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| Licence | Please note the adoption of the Open Government Licence - Canada
supersedes any previous licences. |
| Author | Ednie, M; Demuth, M N; Shepherd, B |
| Source | Geological Survey of Canada, Open File 8228, 2017, 27 pages, https://doi.org/10.4095/302705  Open Access |
| Image |  |
| Year | 2017 |
| Publisher | Natural Resources Canada |
| Document | open file |
| Lang. | English |
| Media | on-line; digital |
| File format | pdf |
| Province | Alberta |
| NTS | 83C/03 |
| Area | Athabasca Glacier; Saskatchewan Glacier; Columbia Icefield; Banff National Park; Jasper National Park |
| Lat/Long WENS | -117.3000 -117.0833 52.2167 52.1167 |
| Subjects | surficial geology/geomorphology; hydrogeology; environmental geology; Nature and Environment; glaciers; icefields; ice conditions; climate effects; geodesy; Climate change; Phanerozoic; Cenozoic;
Quaternary |
| Illustrations | photographs; block diagrams; satellite images; graphs; location maps; bar graphs; tables; time series |
| Program | Climate Change Geoscience Essential Climate Variable Monitoring |
| Released | 2017 06 30 |
| Abstract | (Summary)
This Open File publication presents mass balance (summer, winter and annual mass balance), Equilibrium Limit Altitude and Accumulation Area Ratio data for the Athabasca and
Saskatchewan Glaciers (Columbia Icefield, Jasper and Banff National Parks) for 2014-15 and 2015-16. The collection of glacier mass balance data on the Athabasca and Saskatchewan Glaciers is a joint effort between Jasper National Park and Natural
Resources Canada/Geological Survey of Canada. Both glaciers experienced mass losses in both of the reported years with values in 2014-15 being more negative than in 2015-16. This result reflects the inter-annual variability observed for other
glaciers in southwestern Canada and the northwest Pacific. Corresponding equilibrium line elevations were higher and accumulation area ratios were lower in 2014-15 as compared to 2015-16. When placed in context with geodetic estimates of mass change
for the two glaciers since the mid-1960s, the 2014-15 and 2015-16 observations generally reflect large-scale regional glacier mass balance variability observed since the mid-twentieth century. |
| Summary | (Plain Language Summary, not published)
This interim report to Jasper National Park and Banff National Park presents mass balance (summer, winter and annual mass balance), Equilibrium Limit
Altitude and Accumulation Area Ratio data for the Athabasca and Saskatchewan Glaciers (Columbia Icefield, Jasper and Banff National Parks) for 2014-15 and 2015-16. The collection of glacier mass balance data on the Athabasca and Saskatchewan
Glaciers is a joint effort between Jasper National Park and Natural Resources Canada/Geological Survey of Canada. Both glaciers experienced mass losses in both of the reported years with values in 2014-15 being more negative than in 2015-16. This
result reflects the inter-annual variability observed for other glaciers in southwestern Canada and the northwest Pacific. |
| GEOSCAN ID | 302705 |
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