Forty-seven Years of Research on the Devon Island Ice Cap, Arctic Canada

Abstract

ABStRACt. The Devon Island ice cap has been the subject of scientific study for almost half a century, beginning with the first mass balance measurements in 1961. Research on the ice cap was the first to investigate (1) the role of meltwater in seasonal ice-velocity variations on a polythermal Arctic ice cap, (2) the use of air temperature rather than net radiation as a proxy for the energy driving surface melt, and (3) the influence of the changing frequency of specific synoptic weather configurations on glacier melt and mass balance. Other research has included investigations of ice cap geometry, flow dynamics, and mass balance; ice core analyses for records of past climate and contaminant deposition; and studies of changes in ice cap area and volume and their relationship to surface mass balance and ice dynamics. Current research includes ground studies connected to efforts to calibrate and validate the radar altimeter that will be carried by the European Space Agency's (ESA) CryoSat2 satellite, and a major collaborative Canadian International Polar Year (IPY) project focused on the Belcher Glacier, on the northeast side of the ice cap, that examines hydrodynamics of large tidewater glaciers. This paper summarizes our current knowledge of the Devon Island ice cap and identifies some of the outstanding questions that continue to limit our understanding of climate-ice cap interactions in Arctic regions.Key words: Devon Island ice cap, Canadian Arctic, glaciology, ice dynamics, mass balance, climate change, tidewater, ice cores ReSuMÉ. La calotte glaciaire de l'île Devon fait l'objet d'une étude scientifique depuis près d'un demi-siècle, les premières mesures du bilan massique remontant à 1961. C'est la première fois que des travaux de recherche sur la calotte glaciaire permettent de faire enquête sur 1) le rôle de l'eau de fonte dans les variations caractérisant la vélocité de la glace d'une calotte glaciaire polytherme de l'Arctique; 2) l'utilisation de la température de l'air au lieu du bilan radiatif en surface en guise d'approximation pour la fonte superficielle conductrice d'énergie, et 3) l'influence exercée par la fréquence changeante de configurations climatiques synoptiques spécifiques sur la fonte du glacier et le bilan massique. Parmi les autres travaux de recherche, notons des enquêtes sur la géométrie de la calotte glaciaire, la dynamique des débits d'écoulement et le bilan massique; l'analyse des enregistrements relatifs aux carottes glaciaires en ce qui a trait à d'anciens dépôts climatiques et dépôts de contaminants; et l'étude des changements caractérisant l'aire et le volume de la calotte glaciaire de même que leur relation par rapport au bilan massique en surface et à la dynamique des glaces. Par ailleurs, les travaux de recherche actuels prennent la forme d'études sur le terrain se rapportant aux efforts visant à calibrer et à valider l'altimètre radar, études qui seront effectuées par le satellite CryoSat2 de l'Agence spatiale européenne (ASE), et un projet d'envergure en collaboration avec...

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“…Without firn, these conditions were similar to those found during Baird's expedition in 1950 to the southern part of the ice cap (Baird et al, 1952) and to data reported by , where the snowpack completely melted during the spring. A shallow ice core drilling revealed the presence of superimposed ice (ice with a high density of air bubbles, see Boon et al, 2010;Zdanowicz et al, 2012). The snow surface altitude of the camp over 1 m of snow was 1084 AE 3 m (70.0113 N; À73.2712 W) derived from standard GPS measurements.…”

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“…Those datasets represent semi-continuous depth measurements. In our current method, we obtained ice cores using a 15 custom drill designed for Arctic sampling and conventional practices in ice sampling for temporal profiling (Boon et al, 2010;Readinger, 2006). Lastly, the Devon Ice Cap sampling locations in the earlier research were not at the summit of the ice cap as in the current research.…”

“…Devon Ice Cap, located on the Devon Island in Nunavut, Canada, was previously sampled for PFAAs in May of both 2006 and 2008 through collection from the sidewall of a snow pit (MacInnis et al, 2017;Young et al, 2007). This ice cap has a high latitude and elevation (Boon et al, 2010) and is not expected to receive any local or oceanic sources of contamination. These previous studies detected PFAAs in snow profiles that spanned a 10 -14 year period in deposition.…”