Recent Changes at the Northwest Margin of the Barnes Ice Cap, Baffin Island, N.W.T., Canada

Abstract

A climate change monitoring site has been established at the northwest margin of the Barnes Ice Cap, in the vicinity of the Lewis Glacier. Three years of climatic data (1989 to 1992) and field observations, supplemented by satellite imagery, provide the basis for updating previous studies of local change at the ice cap margin, including climatology and substrate colonization by lichens. Climatic data from the ice cap summit permit extrapolation of seasonal temperatures from the ice marginal station as a basis for equilibrium line altitude estimates. Results are discussed against the background of studies from the 1960s. Retreat of the Lewis Glacier continues at about 25 m yr[sup [minus]1], whereas other areas of the northwest margin are retreating by 10 to 30 m yr[sup [minus]1]. Lower regional summer temperatures over the past three decades have not significantly slowed the recession that has been underway in this sector of the ice cap for the past three centuries. 41 refs., 7 figs., 2 tabs.