THE BOTANY OF THE NORTHWESTERN QUEEN ELIZABETH ISLANDS

1961 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 909-942 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. B. O. Savile
Keyword(s):  
Snow Cover ◽  
Vascular Plants ◽  
Ice Sheets ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Canadian Arctic ◽  
Distribution Patterns ◽  
Canadian Arctic Archipelago ◽  
Summer Climate ◽  
Parasitic Fungi ◽  
South West

Ellef Ringnes Island has a confirmed flora of 49 vascular plants and five parasitic fungi. The adjacent islands have less diversity of habitat and probably have even poorer floras. There are no endemics and the plants are extremely depauperate. The summer climate at Isachsen is colder than at any other station in the Canadian arctic. Although there are no convincing indications that Ellef Ringnes I. was overrun by a Wisconsin continental ice sheet, it cannot have escaped being snow-covered. The light cover of snow and ice on the outer islands was quickly lost in the postglacial xerothermic, which enabled plants to spread along the periphery of the archipelago. The numerous plants that occur south-west and northeast of these islands but not in them indicate that postglacial cold periods, probably accompanied by at least partial snow cover of the outermost islands, have driven out many species. Nearctic refugia are discussed and it is indicated, by analysis of distribution patterns, that no refugia occurred in the Canadian arctic archipelago. The region has been colonized from the Peary Land refuge, the Yukon–Alaska refugia, and from south of the retreating ice sheets.

scholarly journals Holocene paleoenvironmental reconstruction from deep ground temperatures: a comparison with paleoclimate derived from the δ18O record in an ice core from the agassiz Ice Cap, Canadian Arctic Archipelago

1991 ◽  
Vol 37 (126) ◽  
pp. 209-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan E. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Surface Temperature ◽  
Snow Cover ◽  
Ice Core ◽  
Canadian Arctic ◽  
Ground Surface ◽  
Temperature Profiles ◽  
Canadian Arctic Archipelago ◽  
Ground Surface Temperature ◽  
Ice Cap ◽  
Surface Temperatures

Abstract Changes in ground-surface temperature for the past few hundred years have been derived from deep temperature profiles at three wells in the northeastern Canadian Arctic Archipelago, and compared with the climatic history derived from the oxygen-isotope ratio 18O/16O measured in an ice core from the Agassiz Ice Cap, about 180-260 km to the east. Analysis of the ground-temperature profiles suggests that surface temperatures in the area decreased after the Little Climatic Optimum about 1000 years ago until the Little Ice Age (LIA). About 100 years ago, ground-surface temperatures appear to have increased by 2-5K to reach today’s values, while air temperatures increased by 2-3K, according to the isotope record. Part of the larger ground-surface temperature change may be due to other paleoenvironmental effects, such as an increase in snow cover coincident with the end of the LIA. The δ18O climatic record was successful in predicting the general features of the ground-temperature profiles observed at two of the sites, but not the third. There is contemporary evidence that surface temperatures at the latter site may be substantially modified by other environmental factors such as snow cover.

Vascular plants from some localities in the western and northern parts of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago

1970 ◽  
Vol 48 (11) ◽  
pp. 1931-1938 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marian Kuc
Keyword(s):  
Vascular Plants ◽  
Canadian Arctic ◽  
River Valley ◽  
Canadian Arctic Archipelago ◽  
Good Friday ◽  
Banks Island ◽  
Axel Heiberg Island

The paper lists 123 species of vascular plants from several areas hitherto not investigated botanically: Masik River Valley, Banks Island; Eglinton Island; Fitzwilliam Owen Island; and Good Friday Bay, Axel Heiberg Island. Also, collections are listed from Meighen Island and from the vicinity of Eureka, Axel Heiberg Island, both areas where botanical work has been carried out earlier.

Ice-Sheet Initiation and Climatic Influences of Expanded Snow Cover in Arctic Canada

1978 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Larry D. Williams
Keyword(s):  
Snow Cover ◽  
Temperature Change ◽  
Northern Hemisphere ◽  
Air Temperature ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Canadian Arctic ◽  
Surface Air Temperature ◽  
Laurentide Ice Sheet ◽  
Climate Variables ◽  
Summer Insolation

It has been suggested that the Laurentide Ice Sheet originated with extensive perennial snow cover, and that the snow cover affected climate so as to aid ice-sheet development. In this study, a large increase in extent of October 1st snow cover in the Canadian Arctic from 1967–1970 to 1971–1975 is compared to changes in October means of other climate variables. Over the area of snow-cover expansion, mean surface air temperature decreased by up to 3°C, mean 500-mbar height was lowered by over 60 m, and precipitation was increased by up to a factor of two. These effects, if applied to the entire summer, together with the temperature change computed by Shaw and Donn for a Northern Hemisphere summer insolation minimum (the Milankovich effect), can account for glacierization of the Central Canadian Arctic.

scholarly journals Modelling large-scale ice-sheet–climate interactions following glacial inception

2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 169-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. M. Gregory ◽  
O. J. H. Browne ◽  
A. J. Payne ◽  
J. K. Ridley ◽  
I. C. Rutt
Keyword(s):  
General Circulation ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Computational Cost ◽  
Ice Sheets ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Canadian Arctic ◽  
Circulation Model ◽  
Local Cooling ◽  
North West ◽  
North East

Abstract. We have coupled the FAMOUS global AOGCM (atmosphere–ocean general circulation model) to the Glimmer thermomechanical ice-sheet model in order to study the development of ice-sheets in North-East America (Laurentia) and North-West Europe (Fennoscandia) following glacial inception. This first use of a coupled AOGCM-ice-sheet model for a study of change on long palæoclimate timescales is made possible by the low computational cost of FAMOUS, despite its inclusion of physical parameterisations of a similar complexity to those of higher-resolution AOGCMs. With the orbital forcing of 115 ka BP, FAMOUS-Glimmer produces ice-caps on the Canadian Arctic islands, on the north-west coast of Hudson Bay, and in Southern Scandinavia, which over 50 ka grow to occupy the Keewatin region of the Canadian mainland and all of Fennoscandia. Their growth is eventually halted by increasing coastal ice discharge. The expansion of the ice-sheets influences the regional climate, which becomes cooler, reducing the ablation, while precipitation increases. Ice accumulates in places that initially do not have positive surface mass balance. The results suggest the possibility that the Laurentide glaciation could have begun on the Canadian Arctic islands, producing a regional climate change that caused or enhanced the growth of ice on the mainland. The increase in albedo due to snow and ice cover is the dominant feedback on the area of the ice-sheets, and acts rapidly, whereas the feedback of topography on SMB does not become significant for several centuries, but eventually has a large effect on the thickening of the ice-sheets. These two positive feedbacks are mutually reinforcing. In addition the change in topography perturbs the tropospheric circulation, producing some reduction of cloud and mitigating the local cooling along the margin of the Laurentide ice-sheet. Our experiments demonstrate the importance and complexity of the interactions between ice-sheets and local climate.

scholarly journals Holocene paleoenvironmental reconstruction from deep ground temperatures: a comparison with paleoclimate derived from the δ18O record in an ice core from the agassiz Ice Cap, Canadian Arctic Archipelago

1991 ◽  
Vol 37 (126) ◽  
pp. 209-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan E. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Surface Temperature ◽  
Snow Cover ◽  
Ice Core ◽  
Canadian Arctic ◽  
Ground Surface ◽  
Temperature Profiles ◽  
Canadian Arctic Archipelago ◽  
Ground Surface Temperature ◽  
Ice Cap ◽  
Surface Temperatures

AbstractChanges in ground-surface temperature for the past few hundred years have been derived from deep temperature profiles at three wells in the northeastern Canadian Arctic Archipelago, and compared with the climatic history derived from the oxygen-isotope ratio 18O/16O measured in an ice core from the Agassiz Ice Cap, about 180-260 km to the east. Analysis of the ground-temperature profiles suggests that surface temperatures in the area decreased after the Little Climatic Optimum about 1000 years ago until the Little Ice Age (LIA). About 100 years ago, ground-surface temperatures appear to have increased by 2-5K to reach today’s values, while air temperatures increased by 2-3K, according to the isotope record. Part of the larger ground-surface temperature change may be due to other paleoenvironmental effects, such as an increase in snow cover coincident with the end of the LIA.The δ18O climatic record was successful in predicting the general features of the ground-temperature profiles observed at two of the sites, but not the third. There is contemporary evidence that surface temperatures at the latter site may be substantially modified by other environmental factors such as snow cover.

scholarly journals Modelling large-scale ice-sheet–climate interactions following glacial inception

2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 1565-1580 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. M. Gregory ◽  
O. J. H. Browne ◽  
A. J. Payne ◽  
J. K. Ridley ◽  
I. C. Rutt
Keyword(s):  
General Circulation ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Computational Cost ◽  
Ice Sheets ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Canadian Arctic ◽  
Circulation Model ◽  
Local Cooling ◽  
North West ◽  
North East

Abstract. We have coupled the FAMOUS global AOGCM (atmosphere-ocean general circulation model) to the Glimmer thermomechanical ice-sheet model in order to study the development of ice-sheets in north-east America (Laurentia) and north-west Europe (Fennoscandia) following glacial inception. This first use of a coupled AOGCM–ice-sheet model for a study of change on long palæoclimate timescales is made possible by the low computational cost of FAMOUS, despite its inclusion of physical parameterisations similar in complexity to higher-resolution AOGCMs. With the orbital forcing of 115 ka BP, FAMOUS–Glimmer produces ice caps on the Canadian Arctic islands, on the north-west coast of Hudson Bay and in southern Scandinavia, which grow to occupy the Keewatin region of the Canadian mainland and all of Fennoscandia over 50 ka. Their growth is eventually halted by increasing coastal ice discharge. The expansion of the ice-sheets influences the regional climate, which becomes cooler, reducing the ablation, and ice accumulates in places that initially do not have positive surface mass balance. The results suggest the possibility that the glaciation of north-east America could have begun on the Canadian Arctic islands, producing a regional climate change that caused or enhanced the growth of ice on the mainland. The increase in albedo (due to snow and ice cover) is the dominant feedback on the area of the ice-sheets and acts rapidly, whereas the feedback of topography on SMB does not become significant for several centuries, but eventually has a large effect on the thickening of the ice-sheets. These two positive feedbacks are mutually reinforcing. In addition, the change in topography perturbs the tropospheric circulation, producing some reduction of cloud, and mitigating the local cooling along the margin of the Laurentide ice-sheet. Our experiments demonstrate the importance and complexity of the interactions between ice-sheets and local climate.

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