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Author Topic: St. Patricks Bay Ice-caps are gone  (Read 2133 times)

SimonF92

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St. Patricks Bay Ice-caps are gone
« on: August 07, 2020, 02:26:07 PM »
I remember reading about these in 2017 and hoping they might be making a cyclical recovery, but no, they are officially gone

https://nsidc.org/news/newsroom/st-patrick-bay-ice-caps-canada-have-completely-disappeared
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Espen

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Re: St. Patricks Bay Ice-caps are gone
« Reply #1 on: August 07, 2020, 07:14:38 PM »
I remember reading about these in 2017 and hoping they might be making a cyclical recovery, but no, they are officially gone

https://nsidc.org/news/newsroom/st-patrick-bay-ice-caps-canada-have-completely-disappeared

There are are many spots in Greenland were the situation is similar, just opposite Ellesmeere Island in Washington Land and next to Petermann at least a dozen are gone or almost gone.
« Last Edit: August 07, 2020, 10:03:47 PM by Espen »
Have a ice day!

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Re: St. Patricks Bay Ice-caps are gone
« Reply #2 on: August 07, 2020, 09:11:40 PM »
While looking for these I set one image to last year and one year to now. I was shocked by how many ice caps lost significant volume in the last year.  :o

SimonF92

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Re: St. Patricks Bay Ice-caps are gone
« Reply #3 on: August 10, 2020, 12:18:35 PM »
Its poignant and scary that these last vestiges of the Laurentide ice-sheet are disappearing right before our eyes in real-time.

I spent many hours trying to find those ice caps in Worldview but never could due to the resolution of the images. Does anyone have any links to higher-res imaging sites?
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nukefix

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Re: St. Patricks Bay Ice-caps are gone
« Reply #4 on: August 10, 2020, 01:45:23 PM »

SimonF92

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Re: St. Patricks Bay Ice-caps are gone
« Reply #5 on: August 10, 2020, 02:28:29 PM »
Wow, thanks very much!

These two are yesterdays image of the Simmons and Murray ice-caps discussed in this 2001 paper;

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/252553821_Mass_Balance_and_Area_Changes_of_two_High_Arctic_Plateau_Ice_Caps_1959-2001

They also discuss the St Patrick Bay ice-caps and estimated they would melt out after 2040.

*edit: though they didn't consider positive feedback in their estimation
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ArcticMelt2

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Re: St. Patricks Bay Ice-caps are gone
« Reply #6 on: August 13, 2020, 08:56:49 PM »
While looking for these I set one image to last year and one year to now. I was shocked by how many ice caps lost significant volume in the last year.  :o

There is a systematic work that estimates the reduction of the Ellesmeere's glaciers.

Area change of glaciers across Northern Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, between ∼1999 and ∼2015

Quote
ABSTRACT. Using a variety of optical satellite scenes, this study quantifies the change in the areal extent of 1773 glaciers across Northern Ellesmere Island between ∼1999 and ∼2015. Our results show that the regional ice coverage decreased by 1705.3 km2 over the ∼16-year period, a loss of ∼5.9%. Ice shelves had the greatest losses relative to their size, of ∼42.4%. Glaciers feeding into ice shelves reduced in area by 4.7%, while tidewater glaciers reduced in area by 3.3%. Marine-terminating glaciers with floating ice tongues reduced in area by 4.9%, and 19 of these 27 ice tongues disintegrated, causing these glaciers to retreat to their grounding lines. Land-terminating glaciers lost 4.9% of their 1999 area, including the complete loss of three small ice caps (<1.5 km2). Our study highlights the high sensitivity of the ice cover of Northern Ellesmere Island to recent climate warming and the continued losses that are likely to occur in the future. In particular, the ice masses most susceptible to further losses are marine-terminating glaciers with floating termini and small land-terminating ice caps at low elevations.