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| Titel |
Area, elevation and mass changes of the two southernmost ice caps of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago between 1952 and 2014 |
| VerfasserIn |
C. Papasodoro, E. Berthier, A. Royer, C. Zdanowicz, A. Langlois |
| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| ISSN |
1994-0416
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| Digitales Dokument |
URL |
| Erschienen |
In: The Cryosphere ; 9, no. 4 ; Nr. 9, no. 4 (2015-08-07), S.1535-1550 |
| Datensatznummer |
250116832
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 copernicus.org/tc-9-1535-2015.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| Grinnell and Terra Nivea Ice Caps are located on the southern Baffin Island,
Nunavut, in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. These relatively small ice caps
have received little attention compared to the much larger ice masses
further north. Their evolution can, however, give valuable information about
the impact of the recent Arctic warming at lower latitudes
(i.e. ~ 62.5° N). In this paper, we measure or estimate
historical and recent changes of area, elevation and mass of both ice caps
using in situ, airborne and spaceborne data sets, including imagery from the
Pléiades satellites. The area of Terra Nivea Ice Cap has decreased by
34 % since the late 1950s, while that of Grinnell Ice Cap has decreased by
20 % since 1952. For both ice caps, the areal reduction accelerated at the
beginning of the 21st century. The estimated glacier-wide mass balance
was −0.37 ± 0.21 m a−1 water equivalent (w.e.) over Grinnell Ice
Cap for the 1952–2014 period, and −0.47 ± 0.16 m a−1 w.e. over
Terra Nivea Ice Cap for the 1958/59–2014 period. Terra Nivea Ice Cap has
experienced an accelerated rate of mass loss of −1.77 ± 0.36 m a−1 w.e.
between 2007 and 2014. This rate is 5.9 times as negative when
compared to the 1958/59–2007 period (−0.30 ± 0.19 m a−1 w.e.) and
2 times as negative when compared to the mass balance of other glaciers in
the southern parts of Baffin Island over the 2003–2009 period. A similar
acceleration in mass loss is suspected for the Grinnell Ice Cap, given the
calculated elevation changes and the proximity to Terra Nivea Ice Cap. The
recent increase in mass loss rates for these two ice caps is linked to a strong
near-surface regional warming and a lengthening of the melt season into the
autumn that may be indirectly strengthened by a later freezing of sea ice in
the Hudson Strait sector. On a methodological level, our study illustrates
the strong potential of Pléiades satellite data to unlock the
under-exploited archive of old aerial photographs. |
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