CGRG Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology
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Author : Abdalati, W.; Krabill, W.B.; Frederick, E.B.; Manizade, S.; Martin, C.; Sonntag, J.; Swift, R.N.; Thomas, R.; and Yungel, J.
Date : 2001.
Title : Elevation changes of some of Canada's major ice caps.
Publication : AGU 2001 Fall Meeting, Moscone Centre, San Franciso, California, December 10-14, 2001.
Issue :
Page(s) :
Abstract
In an effort to understand the current mass balance of the major Canadian ice caps, we conducted precise airborne laser surveys in spring of 1995 and 2000 using NASA's Airborne Topographic Mapper (ATM). The objective was to compare elevations in each year and determine the amount of thinning that occurred in the intervening five-year period. In general, most of the individual ice caps or groups of ice caps in a specific region exhibit an inverse relationship between elevation and thinning rate. The areas of lowest elevation showed the most thinning, while the higher portions of the ice caps appear to either be thinning less, or in some cases thickening. The same appears to be true for latitude, with the more southern ice caps showing greater thinning rates than the colder ones further north. Barnes Ice Cap on Baffin Island exhibited the most substantial thinning at about 1 m/yr in its lower regions. Nearby Penny Ice Cap also thinned by about 0.5 m/yr at its lower elevations. In the more northern regions, while some thinning was observed, it was not quite as large in magnitude as that of Barnes and Penny ice caps. On nearly all of the ice caps there was slight thickening (less than 10 cm/yr) at the highest elevations. In general, the magnitude of the observed changes is consistent with what might be expected from recent temperature and precipitation anomalies in the region.
Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology