Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T21:07:03.477Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Ice-shelf collapse, climate change, and habitat loss in the Canadian high Arctic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 October 2009

W. F. Vincent ,
J.A.E. Gibson  and
M.O. Jeffries
W. F. Vincent
Affiliation:
Département de Biologie and Centre d'Études Nordiques, Université Laval, Sainte-Foy, Québec G1K 7P4, Canada
J.A.E. Gibson
Affiliation:
CSIRO Marine Research, GPO Box 1538, Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia
M.O. Jeffries
Affiliation:
Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska, PO Box 757320 Fairbanks, AK 99775-7320, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Early explorers in the Canadian high Arctic described a fringe of thick, landfast ice along the 500-km northern coast of Ellesmere Island. This article shows from analyses of historical records, aerial photographs, and satellite imagery (ERS-1, SPOT, RADARSAT-1) that this ancient ice feature (‘Ellesmere Ice Shelf’) underwent a 90% reduction in area during the course of the twentieth century. In addition, hydrographic profiles in Disraeli Fiord (83°N, 74°W) suggest that the ice-shelf remnant that presently dams the fiord (Ward Hunt Ice Shelf) decreased in thickness by 13 m (27%) from 1967 to 1999. Mean annual air temperatures at nearby Alert station showed a significant warming trend during the last two decades of this period, and a significant decline in the number of freezing degree days per annum. The ice-dammed fiord provides a stratified physical and biological environment (epishelf lake) of a type that is otherwise restricted to Antarctica. Extensive meltwater lakes occur on the surface of the ice shelf and support a unique microbial food web. The major contraction of these ice–water habitats foreshadows a much broader loss of marine cryo-ecosystems that will accompany future wanning in the high Arctic.

Type
Articles
Information
Polar Record , Volume 37 , Issue 201 , April 2001 , pp. 133 - 142
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2001

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ahlnès, K., and Sackinger, W.M.. 1988. Offshore winds and pack ice movement episodes off Ellesmere Island. In: Sackinger, W.M., and Jeffries, M.O. (editors). Port and ocean engineering under Arctic conditions. Volume I. Fairbanks: Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska: 271–286.Google Scholar
Bayly, I.A.E., and Burton, H.R.. 1993. Beaver Lake, greater Antarctica, and its population of Boeckella poppei (Mràzek) (Copepoda: Calanoida). Verhandlungen Internationalen Vereinigung für Theoretische und Angewandte Limnologie 25: 975–978.Google Scholar
Bushnell, C.V. 1956. Marvin's ice shelf journey. Arctic 9 (3): 166–177.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crary, A.P. 1956. Geophysical studies along northern Ellesmere Island. Arctic 9 (3): 155–165CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curtis, J., Wendler, G., Stone, R., and Dutton, E.. 1998. Precipitation decrease in the western Arctic, with special emphasis on Barrow and Barter Island, Alaska. International Journal of Climatology 18: 1687–1707.3.0.CO;2-2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dickson, R.R. 1999. All change in the Arctic. Nature 397: 389–391.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Doake, C.S.M., and Vaughan, D.G.. 1991. Rapid disintegration of Wordie Ice Shelf in response to atmospheric warming. Nature 350: 328–330.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dowdeswell, J.A., Gorman, M.R., Glazovsky, A.F., and Macheret, Y.Y.. 1994. Evidence for floating ice shelves in Franz Josef Land, Russian high Arctic. Arctic and Alpine Research 26 (1): 86–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dowdeswell, J.A., Hagen, J. Ove, Bjornsson, H., Glazovsky, A.F., Harrison, W.D., Holmlund, P., Jania, J., Koerner, R.M., Lefauconnier, B., Ommanney, C.S.L., and Thomas, R.H.. 1997. The mass balance of circum-Arctic glaciers and recent climate change. Quaternary Research 48: 1–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Drewry, D.J., Jordan, S.R., and Jankowski, E.J.. 1982. Measured properties of the Antarctic ice sheet: surface configuration, ice thickness, volume and bedrock characteristics. Annals of Glaciology 3: 83–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evans, D.J.A., and England, J.. 1992. Geomorphological evidence of Holocene climatic change from northwest Ellesmere Island, Canadian high Arctic. The Holocene 2: 148–158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hanssenbauer, I., and Forland, E.J.. 1998. Long-term trends in precipitation and temperature in the Norwegian Arctic: can they be explained by changes in atmospheric circulation patterns? Climate Research 10: 143–153.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hattersley-Smith, G. 1963. The Ward-Hunt Ice Shelf: recent changes in the ice front. Journal of Glaciology 4: 415–424.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hattersley-Smith, G. 1966. Note on ice shelves off the north coast of Ellesmere Island. The Arctic Circular 7: 13–14.Google Scholar
Hattersley-Smith, G., Fusezy, A., and Evans, S.. 1969. Glacier depths in northern Ellesmere Island: airborne radio sounding in 1966. Ottawa: Defense Research Establishment (Technical Note 69–6).Google Scholar
Higgins, A.K. 1989. North Greenland ice islands. Polar Record 25 (154): 207–212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holdsworth, G. 1970. Calving from the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf, 1961–1962. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 8: 299–305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holdsworth, G., and Glynn, J. 1978. Iceberg calving from floating glaciers by a vibration mechanism. Nature 274: 464–466.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jeffers, S., Agnew, T.A., Alt, B.T., de Abreau, R., Koerner, R.M. and McCourt, S.. In press. The effects of the extreme summer of 1998 on the Canadian high Arctic ice regime. Annals of Glaciology 33.Google Scholar
Jeffries, M.O. 1986. Ice island calvings and ice shelf changes, Milne Ice Shelf and Ayles Ice Shelf, Ellesmere Island, NWT. Arctic 39 (1): 15–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jeffries, M.O. 1987. The growth, structure and disintegration of ice shelves. Polar Record 23 (147): 631–649.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jeffries, M.O. 1992. Arctic ice shelves and ice islands: origin, growth and disintegration, physical characteristics, structural-stratigraphic variability, and dynamics. Reviews in Geophysics 30: 245–267.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jeffries, M.O. In press. Ellesmere Island ice shelves and ice islands. In: R.S., Williams Jr, and Ferrigno, J.G. (editors). Satellite image atlas of glaciers of the world: glaciers of North America. Reston, VA: US Geological Survey (Professional paper 1386-J).Google Scholar
Jeffries, M.O., and Krouse, H.R.. 1984. Arctic ice shelf growth, fiord oceanography and climate. Zeitschrift für Gletscherkunde und Glazialgeologie 20: 147–153.Google Scholar
Jeffries, M.O., and Sackinger, W.M.. 1990. Near-real-time, synthetic aperture radar detection of a calving event at the Milne Ice Shelf, NWT, and the contribution of offshore winds. In: Murthy, T.K.S., Paren, J.G., Sackinger, W.M. and Wadhams, P. (editors). Ice technology for polar operation: proceedings of the second international conference on ice technology. Southampton: Computational Mechanics Publications: 321–331.Google Scholar
Jeffries, M.O., and Serson, H.. 1983. Recent changes in the front of the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf, Ellesmere Island, NWT. Arctic 36 (3): 289–290.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jeffries, M.O., Serson, H.V., Krouse, H.R., and Sackinger, W.M.. 1991. Ice physical properties, structural characteristics and stratigraphy in Hobson's Choice Ice Island and implications for the growth history of the east Ward Hunt Ice Shelf, Canadian high Arctic. Journal of Glaciology 37: 247–260.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johannessen, O.M., Shalina, E.V., and Miles, M.V.. 1999. Satellite evidence for an Arctic sea ice cover in transformation. Science 286: 1937–1939.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kelly, P.M., Jones, P.D., Sear, C.B., Cherry, B.S.G., and Tavakol, R.K.. 1982. Variations in surface air temperatures: part 2, Arctic regions 1881–1980. Monthly Weather Review 110: 71–83.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keys, J., Johannessen, O.M., and Long, A. 1968. On the oceanography of Disraeli Fiord on northern Ellesmere Island. Montréal: Marine Sciences Centre, McGill University (MS report 6).Google Scholar
King, L. 1989. Expedition to Ward Hunt Island. The Best of Switzerland 1: 331–346.Google Scholar
Koenig, L.S., Greenaway, K.R., Dunbar, M., and Hattersley-Smith, G.. 1952. Arctic ice islands. Arctic 5: 67–103.Google Scholar
Koerner, R.M., and Fisher, D.A.. 1990. A record of Holocene summer climate from a Canadian high-Arctic ice core. Nature 343: 630–631.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maslanik, J.A., Serreze, M.C., and Agnew, T.A.. 1999. On the record reduction in 1998 western Arctic sea-ice cover. Geophysical Research Letters 26: 1905–1908.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nares, G.S. 1878. Narrative of a voyage to the polar sea during 1875–6 in HM ships ‘Alert’ and ‘Discovery’. 2 vols. London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington.Google Scholar
Narod, B., Clarke, G.K.C., and Prager, B.T.. 1988. Airborne UHF radar sounding of glaciers and ice shelves, northern Ellesmere Island, Arctic Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 25: 95–105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Overpeck, J., Hughen, K., Hardy, D., Bradley, R., Case, R., Douglas, M., Finney, B., Gajewski, K., Jacoby, G., Jennings, A., Lamoreux, S., Lasca, A., MacDonald, G., Moore, J., Retelle, M., Smith, S., Wolfe, A., and Zielinski, G.. 1997. Arctic environmental change of the last four centuries. Science 278: 1251–1256.Google Scholar
Peary, R.E. 1907. Nearest the Pole. London: Hutchinson.Google Scholar
Rigor, I.G., Colony, R.L., and Martin, S.. 2000. Variations in surface air temperature observations in the Arctic, 1979–97. Journal of Climate 13: 896–914.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rothrock, D.A., Yu, Y., and Maykut, G.A.. 1999. Thinning of Arctic sea ice cover. Geophysical Research Letters 26: 3469–3472.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rott, H., Skvarca, P., and Nagler, T.. 1996. Rapid collapse of northern Larsen Ice Shelf. Science 271: 788–792.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sackinger, W.M., Jeffries, M.O., Lu, M.C., and Li, F.C.. 1988. Arctic ice islands. Fairbanks: Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska, Fairbanks (US Dept of Energy final report AC21–83MC20037).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shindell, D.T., Miller, R.L., Schmidt, G.A., and Pandolfo, L.. 1999. Simulation of recent northern winter climate trends by greenhouse-gas forcing. Nature 399: 452–455.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Hove, P., Swadling, K.M., Gibson, J.A.E., Belzile, C., and Vincent, W.F.. In press. Farthest north lake and fiord populations of copepods in the Canadian high Arctic. Polar Biology.Google Scholar
Vaughan, D.G., and Doake, C.S.M.. 1996. Recent atmosphere warming and retreat of ice shelves on the Antarctic Peninsula. Nature 379: 328–331.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vincent, W.F., Gibson, J.A.E., Pienitz, R., Villeneuve, V., Broady, P.A., Hamilton, P.B., and Howard-Williams, C.. 2000. Ice shelf microbial ecosystems in the high Arctic and implications for life on snowball Earth. Naturwissenschaften 87: 137–141.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vincent, W.F., and Howard-Williams, C.. 2000. Life on snowball Earth. Science 287: 2421.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weller, G. 1998. Regional impacts of climate change in the Arctic and Antarctic. Annals of Glaciology 27: 543–552.CrossRefGoogle Scholar