CGRG Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology
Search Results
Author : Cogley, J.G., Adams, W.P., Ecclestone, M.A., Jung-Rothenhausler, F. and Ommaney, C.S.L.
Date : 1995
Title : Mass balance of Axel Heiberg Island glaciers, 1960-1991: a reassessment and discussion.
Publication : National Hydrology Research Institute, Environment Canada, Saskatoon. NHRI Science Report
Issue : 6
Page(s) : 168 p
Abstract
The White Glacier is a mountain glacier with an area of 38.7 sq. km and an elevation range from 53 m to 1782 m, located at 79.5 N and 90.7 W on Axel Heiberg Island, N.W.T., Canada. Its mass-balance record, which now extends over 32 years with a 3-year gap, has recently been reassessed. The mass balance of the White Glacier has been measured by standard techniques based on the stratigraphic system. Currently the stake density is about 0.6-0.9 stakes/km. The distribution of stakes does not justify mapping of the balance, which is assumed to vary only with elevation. The peculiarities of a cold polar glacier require special attention. In particular, superimposed ice must be accounted for carefully. ... The White Glacier record is representative for the Canadian High Arctic. The regional mass-balance normal is about -80 mm/a. The evidence for trends in several balance series is weak, and in particular the White Glacier seems to have a constant massbalance. Consideration of a larger comparative dataset, containing records for several dozen high-latitude glaciers, reveals that the "decorrelation distance" is about 700-800 km. This suggests that regional normals are "meaningful", and also that glacierized regions of the Northern Hemisphere, typically a few thousand km apart, are statistically independent gauges of possible climatic change
Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology