CGRG Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology
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Author : Dowdeswell, E.K.; Dowdeswell, J.A.; and Webb, C.E.
Date : 2010.
Title : Changing ice extent and elevation on Baffin and Bylot islands, Arctic Canada
Publication : 40th International Arctic Workshop. March 0-12, 2010. Winter Park, Colorado.
Issue :
Page(s) :
Abstract
The glaciers and ice caps on Baffin and Bylot islands in Arctic Canada cover an area of over 40,000 km2, one of the largest ice-covered regions on Earth after Antarctica, Greenland and Ellesmere Island. The ice on these islands has been mapped and described using recent high-resolution Landsat ETM+ digital imagery. To assess changing ice extent, these modern images have been geo-located and compared with 1958/1961 and Little Ice Age glacier limits derived from the analysis of ice margins and moraine systems mapped from vertical aerial photographs. In addition, ICESat data have been acquired to measure changing ice cap surface elevation. Our results to date show that all the major ice caps on Baffin and Bylot islands are decreasing in area (Table 2). Thinning of up to ca. 1-2 m yr-1 is observed for Barnes Ice Cap and of generally less than 1 m yr-1 for Penny Ice Cap between 2003 and 2008. Area loss is greatest for the small Grinnell and Terra Nivea ice caps in southernmost Baffin Island at 11-14% since 1958. It is least for the Barnes and Penny ice caps at 2%. Recent temperature rise may be contributing to ice shrinkage, but sea-surface temperature change may also be involved.
Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology