Changes in late-Neoglacial perennial snow/ice extent and equilibrium-line altitudes in the Queen Elizabeth Islands, Arctic Canada
Changes in late Neoglaical climate resulted in extensive modification of Arctic terrestrial ice cover. A substantial reduction in terrestrial ice cover in the Queen Elizabeth Islands (QEI) following the `Little Ice Age' (LIA) (~AD 1250—1900), is indicated by widespread, light-toned patches of p...
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Language: | English |
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0959683608089215 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0959683608089215 |
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crsagepubl:10.1177/0959683608089215 2024-06-23T07:50:17+00:00 Changes in late-Neoglacial perennial snow/ice extent and equilibrium-line altitudes in the Queen Elizabeth Islands, Arctic Canada Wolken, Gabriel J. England, John H. Dyke, Arthur S. 2008 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0959683608089215 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0959683608089215 en eng SAGE Publications http://journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license The Holocene volume 18, issue 4, page 615-627 ISSN 0959-6836 1477-0911 journal-article 2008 crsagepubl https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683608089215 2024-06-11T04:29:53Z Changes in late Neoglaical climate resulted in extensive modification of Arctic terrestrial ice cover. A substantial reduction in terrestrial ice cover in the Queen Elizabeth Islands (QEI) following the `Little Ice Age' (LIA) (~AD 1250—1900), is indicated by widespread, light-toned patches of poorly vegetated terrain, extending back to the modern ice mass. These patches display abrupt outer margins (trimlines), which record the former position and maximum extent of perennial snow/ice and, in many cases, mark the former equilibrium-line altitude (ELA). Trimlines surrounding terrain formerly covered by LIA perennial snow/ice were mapped using multispectral classification approaches applied to high-resolution satellite imagery. ELAs were reconstructed from trimlines associated with former perennial snow/ice produced by long-term snowline lowering. Between the end of the LIA and 1960, the area of terrestrial ice in the QEI decreased by 37% (62 387 km 2 ). Most of this reduction (94%) occurred in the eastern QEI where the majority of the ice exists today; however, a 100% reduction in ice cover occurred on many of the western islands by 1960, an effect largely controlled by the subtle topography of these islands. The reconstructed LIA ELA trend surface was used with the 1960 mapped ELAs to calculate spatial variations in the change in height (Δ h) of the ELA trend surface throughout the QEI during the first half of the twentieth century. ELA Δ h between the LIA and 1960 reveal a high degree of local variability in the mountainous regions, ranging from 0 to >600 m; however a strong regional-scale pattern of change is shown over the QEI as a whole. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Queen Elizabeth Islands SAGE Publications Arctic Canada Ela ENVELOPE(9.642,9.642,63.170,63.170) The Holocene 18 4 615 627 |
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Open Polar |
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SAGE Publications |
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crsagepubl |
language |
English |
description |
Changes in late Neoglaical climate resulted in extensive modification of Arctic terrestrial ice cover. A substantial reduction in terrestrial ice cover in the Queen Elizabeth Islands (QEI) following the `Little Ice Age' (LIA) (~AD 1250—1900), is indicated by widespread, light-toned patches of poorly vegetated terrain, extending back to the modern ice mass. These patches display abrupt outer margins (trimlines), which record the former position and maximum extent of perennial snow/ice and, in many cases, mark the former equilibrium-line altitude (ELA). Trimlines surrounding terrain formerly covered by LIA perennial snow/ice were mapped using multispectral classification approaches applied to high-resolution satellite imagery. ELAs were reconstructed from trimlines associated with former perennial snow/ice produced by long-term snowline lowering. Between the end of the LIA and 1960, the area of terrestrial ice in the QEI decreased by 37% (62 387 km 2 ). Most of this reduction (94%) occurred in the eastern QEI where the majority of the ice exists today; however, a 100% reduction in ice cover occurred on many of the western islands by 1960, an effect largely controlled by the subtle topography of these islands. The reconstructed LIA ELA trend surface was used with the 1960 mapped ELAs to calculate spatial variations in the change in height (Δ h) of the ELA trend surface throughout the QEI during the first half of the twentieth century. ELA Δ h between the LIA and 1960 reveal a high degree of local variability in the mountainous regions, ranging from 0 to >600 m; however a strong regional-scale pattern of change is shown over the QEI as a whole. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Wolken, Gabriel J. England, John H. Dyke, Arthur S. |
spellingShingle |
Wolken, Gabriel J. England, John H. Dyke, Arthur S. Changes in late-Neoglacial perennial snow/ice extent and equilibrium-line altitudes in the Queen Elizabeth Islands, Arctic Canada |
author_facet |
Wolken, Gabriel J. England, John H. Dyke, Arthur S. |
author_sort |
Wolken, Gabriel J. |
title |
Changes in late-Neoglacial perennial snow/ice extent and equilibrium-line altitudes in the Queen Elizabeth Islands, Arctic Canada |
title_short |
Changes in late-Neoglacial perennial snow/ice extent and equilibrium-line altitudes in the Queen Elizabeth Islands, Arctic Canada |
title_full |
Changes in late-Neoglacial perennial snow/ice extent and equilibrium-line altitudes in the Queen Elizabeth Islands, Arctic Canada |
title_fullStr |
Changes in late-Neoglacial perennial snow/ice extent and equilibrium-line altitudes in the Queen Elizabeth Islands, Arctic Canada |
title_full_unstemmed |
Changes in late-Neoglacial perennial snow/ice extent and equilibrium-line altitudes in the Queen Elizabeth Islands, Arctic Canada |
title_sort |
changes in late-neoglacial perennial snow/ice extent and equilibrium-line altitudes in the queen elizabeth islands, arctic canada |
publisher |
SAGE Publications |
publishDate |
2008 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0959683608089215 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0959683608089215 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(9.642,9.642,63.170,63.170) |
geographic |
Arctic Canada Ela |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Canada Ela |
genre |
Arctic Queen Elizabeth Islands |
genre_facet |
Arctic Queen Elizabeth Islands |
op_source |
The Holocene volume 18, issue 4, page 615-627 ISSN 0959-6836 1477-0911 |
op_rights |
http://journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683608089215 |
container_title |
The Holocene |
container_volume |
18 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
615 |
op_container_end_page |
627 |
_version_ |
1802641147213905920 |