Milne Glacier, Northern Ellesmere Island, N.W.T., Canada: a Surging Glacier?

Abstract During the period 1966 to 1983 Milne Glacier advanced 4.25 km at a mean annual rate of 250 m a −1 . Since surges commonly occur over a two or three year period the maximum rate of advance could have been greater than 2 km a −1 . The glacier terminus has a number of features indicative of pa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Glaciology
Main Author: Jeffries, Martin O.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1984
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022143000006043
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143000006043
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Summary:Abstract During the period 1966 to 1983 Milne Glacier advanced 4.25 km at a mean annual rate of 250 m a −1 . Since surges commonly occur over a two or three year period the maximum rate of advance could have been greater than 2 km a −1 . The glacier terminus has a number of features indicative of past surge behaviour. Of these, at least three looped moraines suggest surges of the main valley glacier and tributary glaciers. As Milne Glacier is a cold glacier, surges may possibly be thermally regulated Accumulation rates on the ice caps of northern Ellesmere Island are low hence a critical condition in the “reservoir area” will be only slowly attained. As a consequence the periodicity of surges in Milne Glacier and other High Arctic glaciers is expected to be high.