Pleistocene Ice at the Base of The Barnes Ice Cap, Baffin Island, N.W.T., Canada

• Published in: Journal of Glaciology
• Main Author: Leb. Hooke, Roger
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1976
• Subjects: Baffin Island; Barnes Ice Cap; Canada; Baffin; Ice cap; Journal of Glaciology
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022143000030719; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143000030719

Abstract Oxygen-isotope ratios indicate that a distinctive band of white ice along the margin of the Barnes Ice Cap is of Pleistocene age. It is estimated freom a flow mogerl that beneath the center of the ice cap the thickness of the band shuuld be abont 0.6 times its thickness at the margin, or about 8 m. However, an ingerpengernt estimate, based on calculated vertical strain-rates and explicitly assuming no basal melting, predicts a thickness of about 22 m beneath the center of the ice cap. The discrepancy between the two thickness estimates is interpreted as indicating that basal melting has occurred. Calculated basal temperatures support this conclusion.