Aspects of the Glaciology of Meighen Island, Northwest Territories, Canada
Abstract Meighen Island lies in the centre of the north coast of the Queen Elizabeth Islands and fronts on the Arctic Ocean. An ice cap of about 76 km. 2 covers about one-tenth of the island. Its greatest thickness of 150 m. occurs under the summit, near the south end, which was 268 m. above sea-lev...
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Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press (CUP)
1965
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022143000018396 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143000018396 |
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/s0022143000018396 2024-03-03T08:42:16+00:00 Aspects of the Glaciology of Meighen Island, Northwest Territories, Canada Arnold, K. C. 1965 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022143000018396 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143000018396 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) Journal of Glaciology volume 5, issue 40, page 399-410 ISSN 0022-1430 1727-5652 Earth-Surface Processes journal-article 1965 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/s0022143000018396 2024-02-08T08:47:47Z Abstract Meighen Island lies in the centre of the north coast of the Queen Elizabeth Islands and fronts on the Arctic Ocean. An ice cap of about 76 km. 2 covers about one-tenth of the island. Its greatest thickness of 150 m. occurs under the summit, near the south end, which was 268 m. above sea-level in 1960. The northern half of the ice cap is less than 30 m. thick; and the total volume is of the order of 2,000 × 10 6 m. 3 . Precipitation is low in the northern Queen Elizabeth Islands, and Meighen Island lies in an area where summer temperatures are lowest. In the winters of 1959–60, 1960–61 and 1961–62, the snow accumulation was 12.6, 18.2 and 14.1 cm. of water equivalent. Some snowfall remained on the higher part of the ice cap in the cold summer of 1961; but the ice cap diminished in volume in each year; by 36 × 10 6 , 72 × 10 6 , 22 × 10 6 and 91 × 10 6 m. 3 in the 1959, 1960, 1961 and 1962 ablation seasons. If the conditions of these four seasons were maintained the ice cap would disappear in about 100 yr. However, a radio-carbon dating of a saxifrage exposed by the retreat of the ice from a small nunatak near the northern edge gave a date of less than 100 yr., and it appears that the existence of the ice cap might be sensitively related to recent climatic change. Careful surveys were made in 1959, 1960 and 1961 in an attempt to detect movement in the ice cap. Unequivocal evidence is not available from these surveys; but the stake network has been maintained and another survey has recently been completed. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Ocean Ice cap Journal of Glaciology Northwest Territories Queen Elizabeth Islands Cambridge University Press Arctic Arctic Ocean Northwest Territories Canada Meighen Island ENVELOPE(-99.503,-99.503,79.919,79.919) Journal of Glaciology 5 40 399 410 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Cambridge University Press |
op_collection_id |
crcambridgeupr |
language |
English |
topic |
Earth-Surface Processes |
spellingShingle |
Earth-Surface Processes Arnold, K. C. Aspects of the Glaciology of Meighen Island, Northwest Territories, Canada |
topic_facet |
Earth-Surface Processes |
description |
Abstract Meighen Island lies in the centre of the north coast of the Queen Elizabeth Islands and fronts on the Arctic Ocean. An ice cap of about 76 km. 2 covers about one-tenth of the island. Its greatest thickness of 150 m. occurs under the summit, near the south end, which was 268 m. above sea-level in 1960. The northern half of the ice cap is less than 30 m. thick; and the total volume is of the order of 2,000 × 10 6 m. 3 . Precipitation is low in the northern Queen Elizabeth Islands, and Meighen Island lies in an area where summer temperatures are lowest. In the winters of 1959–60, 1960–61 and 1961–62, the snow accumulation was 12.6, 18.2 and 14.1 cm. of water equivalent. Some snowfall remained on the higher part of the ice cap in the cold summer of 1961; but the ice cap diminished in volume in each year; by 36 × 10 6 , 72 × 10 6 , 22 × 10 6 and 91 × 10 6 m. 3 in the 1959, 1960, 1961 and 1962 ablation seasons. If the conditions of these four seasons were maintained the ice cap would disappear in about 100 yr. However, a radio-carbon dating of a saxifrage exposed by the retreat of the ice from a small nunatak near the northern edge gave a date of less than 100 yr., and it appears that the existence of the ice cap might be sensitively related to recent climatic change. Careful surveys were made in 1959, 1960 and 1961 in an attempt to detect movement in the ice cap. Unequivocal evidence is not available from these surveys; but the stake network has been maintained and another survey has recently been completed. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Arnold, K. C. |
author_facet |
Arnold, K. C. |
author_sort |
Arnold, K. C. |
title |
Aspects of the Glaciology of Meighen Island, Northwest Territories, Canada |
title_short |
Aspects of the Glaciology of Meighen Island, Northwest Territories, Canada |
title_full |
Aspects of the Glaciology of Meighen Island, Northwest Territories, Canada |
title_fullStr |
Aspects of the Glaciology of Meighen Island, Northwest Territories, Canada |
title_full_unstemmed |
Aspects of the Glaciology of Meighen Island, Northwest Territories, Canada |
title_sort |
aspects of the glaciology of meighen island, northwest territories, canada |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
1965 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022143000018396 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143000018396 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-99.503,-99.503,79.919,79.919) |
geographic |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Northwest Territories Canada Meighen Island |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Northwest Territories Canada Meighen Island |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Ice cap Journal of Glaciology Northwest Territories Queen Elizabeth Islands |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Ice cap Journal of Glaciology Northwest Territories Queen Elizabeth Islands |
op_source |
Journal of Glaciology volume 5, issue 40, page 399-410 ISSN 0022-1430 1727-5652 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/s0022143000018396 |
container_title |
Journal of Glaciology |
container_volume |
5 |
container_issue |
40 |
container_start_page |
399 |
op_container_end_page |
410 |
_version_ |
1792497695210864640 |