Regions: Inuvialuit Settlement Region
Tags: physical sciences, climate change, glaciology, pollution, ice cap
| Principal Investigator: | Koerner, Roy M (9) |
| Licence Number: | 14139 |
| Organization: | Geological Survey of Canada |
| Licensed Year(s): |
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
|
| Issued: | Apr 11, 2007 |
| Project Team: | David Burgess |
Objective(s): This project is part of a glacier program covering four ice caps and one glacier, one of the ice caps being in the Northwest Territories (Melville Ice Cap). The work involves measuring poles drilled into the ice to see if more ice and snow is melting than it is accumulating. These data are an excellent indicator of climate change. Small samples (100 grams each) of snow will also be collected at several sites to check for its acid content.
Project Description: This project is part of a glacier program covering four ice caps and one glacier, one of the ice caps being in the Northwest Territories (Melville Ice Cap). The work involves measuring poles drilled into the ice to see if more ice and snow is melting than it is accumulating. These data are an excellent indicator of climate change. The indications so far are that, although the ice cap is getting smaller (it is 40 m at its thickest) there are still a few years where the snow does not melt during the summer. The base camp is located at the Polar Continental Shelf Project in Resolute Bay, Nunavut, from where the project's two personnel will fly out to the ice cap. While there, they will live in a small hut by the side of the ice cap, constructed in 2006. There is an automatic weather station on the ice cap, which provides a year-round record of snowfall and temperature. Travel on the ice is by snowmobile and researchers will live in the hut for the two or three days they are there. Small samples (100 grams each) of snow are also collected at several sites to check for its acid content. Data related to this study are published on the Department of Natural Resources / Geological Survey of Canada web site. Peer reviewed papers are also published periodically. Some community members and students from the closer communities may accompany researchers to observe ice core drilling work. In addition, there has been a television report on part of this research in the past ("The National" - CBC). Fieldwork will be conducted from April 11-30, 2007 on the Melville Island Ice Cap (75 degrees 27' N and 115 degrees W).
