Identifying Iceberg Production Processes, Drift Patterns, and Coexistence with Ships in the Eastern Canadian Arctic
Tidewater glaciers drain a significant proportion of the Greenland Ice Sheet and ice masses of the Canadian Arctic and provide the primary source of icebergs in Canadian waters. However, there remains uncertainty surrounding the processes controlling ice discharge from Canadian Arctic glaciers, the...
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Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
2023
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ftunivottawa:oai:ruor.uottawa.ca:10393/45357 2023-10-01T03:53:31+02:00 Identifying Iceberg Production Processes, Drift Patterns, and Coexistence with Ships in the Eastern Canadian Arctic Dalton, Abigail Copland, Luke Van Wychen, Wesley 2023-08-30 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/10393/45357 https://doi.org/10.20381/ruor-29563 en eng Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa http://hdl.handle.net/10393/45357 http://dx.doi.org/10.20381/ruor-29563 Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Canadian Arctic Icebergs Glaciology Remote Sensing Thesis 2023 ftunivottawa https://doi.org/10.20381/ruor-29563 2023-09-02T23:00:09Z Tidewater glaciers drain a significant proportion of the Greenland Ice Sheet and ice masses of the Canadian Arctic and provide the primary source of icebergs in Canadian waters. However, there remains uncertainty surrounding the processes controlling ice discharge from Canadian Arctic glaciers, the drift paths of icebergs in Canadian waters, and the proximity of icebergs to shipping in the region. This thesis quantifies the processes controlling glacier dynamics from four primary glacier basins on the Prince of Wales (POW) Icefield and using a multi-year dataset of iceberg drift tracks, identifies drift patterns and proximity to ships throughout the eastern Canadian Arctic. On the POW Icefield between 2009 and 2019, Cadogan and Ekblaw glaciers underwent multiyear acceleration and deceleration limited to their lower parts, consistent with characteristics of "pulse-type" glaciers. Trinity and Wykeham glaciers underwent repeating multiyear periods of velocity acceleration between 2009 and 2019 which coincided with significant thinning at their termini. As of 2017, Trinity and Wykeham were each within ~10 m of flotation over their lowermost 4 km. These findings suggest that Trinity and Wykeham glaciers have transitioned to a flow type dominated by dynamic thinning, which is strongly influenced by subglacial topography and may be susceptible to instability of the glacier front and large-scale collapse. Given that both glaciers are grounded below sea level for ~40 km up-glacier from their termini, this process could lead to significant increases in acceleration, retreat, and solid ice discharge. Using a multi-year dataset (2011-2019) of in-situ iceberg drift locations, it was found that icebergs consistently drifted southeast along the east coast of Baffin Island, controlled by a combination of local conditions including short-term wind events, ocean surface currents and semi-diurnal tidal oscillations. A test of the assumption that icebergs drift at 2% of the wind speed indicates that this rule does not apply for the ... Thesis Arctic Baffin Island Baffin glacier Greenland Ice Sheet Iceberg* Tidewater uO Research (University of Ottawa - uOttawa) Arctic Baffin Island Ekblaw ENVELOPE(-141.800,-141.800,-77.317,-77.317) Greenland |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
uO Research (University of Ottawa - uOttawa) |
op_collection_id |
ftunivottawa |
language |
English |
topic |
Canadian Arctic Icebergs Glaciology Remote Sensing |
spellingShingle |
Canadian Arctic Icebergs Glaciology Remote Sensing Dalton, Abigail Identifying Iceberg Production Processes, Drift Patterns, and Coexistence with Ships in the Eastern Canadian Arctic |
topic_facet |
Canadian Arctic Icebergs Glaciology Remote Sensing |
description |
Tidewater glaciers drain a significant proportion of the Greenland Ice Sheet and ice masses of the Canadian Arctic and provide the primary source of icebergs in Canadian waters. However, there remains uncertainty surrounding the processes controlling ice discharge from Canadian Arctic glaciers, the drift paths of icebergs in Canadian waters, and the proximity of icebergs to shipping in the region. This thesis quantifies the processes controlling glacier dynamics from four primary glacier basins on the Prince of Wales (POW) Icefield and using a multi-year dataset of iceberg drift tracks, identifies drift patterns and proximity to ships throughout the eastern Canadian Arctic. On the POW Icefield between 2009 and 2019, Cadogan and Ekblaw glaciers underwent multiyear acceleration and deceleration limited to their lower parts, consistent with characteristics of "pulse-type" glaciers. Trinity and Wykeham glaciers underwent repeating multiyear periods of velocity acceleration between 2009 and 2019 which coincided with significant thinning at their termini. As of 2017, Trinity and Wykeham were each within ~10 m of flotation over their lowermost 4 km. These findings suggest that Trinity and Wykeham glaciers have transitioned to a flow type dominated by dynamic thinning, which is strongly influenced by subglacial topography and may be susceptible to instability of the glacier front and large-scale collapse. Given that both glaciers are grounded below sea level for ~40 km up-glacier from their termini, this process could lead to significant increases in acceleration, retreat, and solid ice discharge. Using a multi-year dataset (2011-2019) of in-situ iceberg drift locations, it was found that icebergs consistently drifted southeast along the east coast of Baffin Island, controlled by a combination of local conditions including short-term wind events, ocean surface currents and semi-diurnal tidal oscillations. A test of the assumption that icebergs drift at 2% of the wind speed indicates that this rule does not apply for the ... |
author2 |
Copland, Luke Van Wychen, Wesley |
format |
Thesis |
author |
Dalton, Abigail |
author_facet |
Dalton, Abigail |
author_sort |
Dalton, Abigail |
title |
Identifying Iceberg Production Processes, Drift Patterns, and Coexistence with Ships in the Eastern Canadian Arctic |
title_short |
Identifying Iceberg Production Processes, Drift Patterns, and Coexistence with Ships in the Eastern Canadian Arctic |
title_full |
Identifying Iceberg Production Processes, Drift Patterns, and Coexistence with Ships in the Eastern Canadian Arctic |
title_fullStr |
Identifying Iceberg Production Processes, Drift Patterns, and Coexistence with Ships in the Eastern Canadian Arctic |
title_full_unstemmed |
Identifying Iceberg Production Processes, Drift Patterns, and Coexistence with Ships in the Eastern Canadian Arctic |
title_sort |
identifying iceberg production processes, drift patterns, and coexistence with ships in the eastern canadian arctic |
publisher |
Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10393/45357 https://doi.org/10.20381/ruor-29563 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-141.800,-141.800,-77.317,-77.317) |
geographic |
Arctic Baffin Island Ekblaw Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Baffin Island Ekblaw Greenland |
genre |
Arctic Baffin Island Baffin glacier Greenland Ice Sheet Iceberg* Tidewater |
genre_facet |
Arctic Baffin Island Baffin glacier Greenland Ice Sheet Iceberg* Tidewater |
op_relation |
http://hdl.handle.net/10393/45357 http://dx.doi.org/10.20381/ruor-29563 |
op_rights |
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.20381/ruor-29563 |
_version_ |
1778520160131350528 |