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GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 30, NO. 20, 2031, doi:10.1029/2003GL017931, 2003

Break-up of the largest Arctic ice shelf and associated loss of an epishelf lake

Derek R. Mueller

Centre d'études nordiques, Université Laval, Québec, Québec, Canada

Warwick F. Vincent

Centre d'études nordiques, Université Laval, Québec, Québec, Canada

Martin O. Jeffries

Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska, USA

Abstract

Field observations and RADARSAT imagery of the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf (lat. 83°N, long. 74°W), Nunavut, Canada, show that it broke in two over the period 2000 to 2002, with additional fissuring and further ice island calving. The fracturing caused the drainage of an ice-dammed epishelf lake (Disraeli Fiord), a rare ecosystem type. Reductions in the freshwater volume of Disraeli Fiord occurred from 1967 to the present and accompanied a significant rise in mean annual air temperature over the same period in this far northern region. The recent collapse of ice shelves in West Antarctica has been interpreted as evidence of accelerated climate change in that region. Similarly, the inferred thinning and observed fragmentation of the ice shelf, plus the drainage of the epishelf lake, are additional evidence for climate change in the High Arctic.

Received 10 June 2003; accepted 20 August 2003; published 18 October 2003.

Index Terms: 1827 Hydrology: Glaciology (1863); 9315 Information Related to Geographic Region: Arctic region; 4815 Oceanography: Biological and Chemical: Ecosystems, structure and dynamics; 1620 Global Change: Climate dynamics (3309); 1640 Global Change: Remote sensing.

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Citation: Mueller, D. R., W. F. Vincent, and M. O. Jeffries (2003), Break-up of the largest Arctic ice shelf and associated loss of an epishelf lake, Geophys. Res. Lett., 30(20), 2031, doi:10.1029/2003GL017931.

Copyright 2003 by the American Geophysical Union.