Base de données de recherche des TNO

Régions: Inuvialuit Settlement Region

étiquettes: physical sciences, climate change, glaciology, ice thickness, glaciers, glacier health, mass balance

Objectif(s): The objective of this long-term ongoing program is to monitor glacier health and climatic change in the high Arctic by measuring the mass balance of four ice caps and one glacier. This part of the program involves measurements of the Melville South Ice Cap in the western Arctic islands. The work includes measuring poles drilled into the ice to see if more snow and ice is melting during the summer than accummulates during the winter. Such data are an excellent indicator of climate change. The Melville South Ice Cap is presently about 40 m thick at its thickest. The indications so far are that, although the ice cap is getting smaller, there are still a few years in which the snow does not melt during the summer.