An Analysis of Seasonal Sea Ice off the Coast of Cape Dorset, Nunavut, Canada

• Main Author: Siewierski, Richard
• Other Authors: Gough, William A.
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Subjects: Inuit; Sea Ice; 0368; Arctic; Canada; Cape Dorset; Nunavut; inuit; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1807/18863

Sea ice is essential to the survival of many human settlements in Arctic Canada in that it provides a means for basic sustenance, travel and largely defines the seasons. Northern communities base their livelihoods on these traditionally well established cryogenic cycles. In this work, seasonal sea ice is analyzed off the coast of Cape Dorset, Nunavut. Significant trends are established for earlier sea ice break-up and later freeze up dates for the period 1982 to 2007. The timing of sea ice formation and retreat is significantly changing in the Cape Dorset region, with the ice free season increasing ~40 days since 1982. Relationships are established statistically between the shifting ice free season and temperature, weather types (air masses), precipitation, and wind. The results of this study illustrate the changing nature of sea ice formation and retreat in Cape Dorset and the importance of completing localized studies in the Arctic.