Barnes Ice Cap

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Barnes Ice Cap
Barnes Ice Cap 2019-08-10 Sentinel-2 L2A Highlight Optimized Natural Color.jpg
Sentinel-2 image (2019)
Canada Nunavut location map-lambert proj3.svg
Blue pog.svg
Location in Nunavut, Canada
Type Ice cap
Location Baffin Island
Coordinates 70°00′N73°30′W / 70.000°N 73.500°W / 70.000; -73.500

The Barnes Ice Cap is an ice cap located in central Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada.

Contents

Geography

It covers close to 6,000 km2 (2,300 sq mi) in the area of the Baffin Mountains. It has been thinning due to regional warming. [1] Between 2004 and 2006, the ice cap was thinning at a rate of 1 m (3 ft 3 in) per year.

The ice cap contains Canada's oldest ice, some of it being over 20,000 years old. [2] It is a remnant of the Laurentide Ice Sheet, which covered much of Canada during the last glacial period of the Earth's current ice age. Generator Lake is located at the southeastern end of the ice cap. [3]

The Barnes Ice Cap on Baffin Island. Sea Ice off Baffin Island.jpg
The Barnes Ice Cap on Baffin Island.
A portion of the Barnes Ice Cap near its south-eastern end. Barnes Ice Cap, Baffin Island, Canada.jpg
A portion of the Barnes Ice Cap near its south-eastern end.

See also

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References

  1. Sneed, William; Hooke, Roger; Hamilton, Gordon (January 2008), "Thinning of the south dome of Barnes Ice Cap, Arctic Canada, over the past two decades", GeoScienceWorld, v.36, no. 1 (1): 71–74, Bibcode:2008Geo....36...71S, doi:10.1130/G24013A.1
  2. "Canada's oldest ice formation melting at alarming rate, scientists say" (Press release). CanWest News Service. Jan 9, 2008. Archived from the original on 2011-05-11. Retrieved Jan 6, 2010.
  3. NRCan - Generator Lake