Recent changes in area and thickness of Torngat Mountain glaciers (northern Labrador, Canada)
The Torngat Mountains National Park, northern Labrador, Canada, contains more than 120 small glaciers: the only remaining glaciers in continental northeast North America. These small cirque glaciers exist in a unique topo-climatic setting, experiencing temperate maritime summer conditions yet very c...
Main Authors: | , , , |
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Copernicus Publications
2017-01-01
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Series: | The Cryosphere |
Online Access: | http://www.the-cryosphere.net/11/157/2017/tc-11-157-2017.pdf |
Summary: | The Torngat Mountains National Park, northern Labrador, Canada, contains more
than 120 small glaciers: the only remaining glaciers in continental northeast
North America. These small cirque glaciers exist in a unique topo-climatic
setting, experiencing temperate maritime summer conditions yet very cold and
dry winters, and may provide insights into the deglaciation dynamics of
similar small glaciers in temperate mountain settings. Due to their size and
remote location, very little information exists regarding the health of these
glaciers. Just a single study has been published on the contemporary
glaciology of the Torngat Mountains, focusing on net mass balances from 1981
to 1984. This paper addresses the extent to which glaciologically relevant
climate variables have changed in northern Labrador in concert with
20th-century Arctic warming, and how these changes have affected Torngat Mountain
glaciers. Field surveys and remote-sensing analyses were used to measure
regional glacier area loss of 27 % from 1950 to 2005, substantial rates of
ice surface thinning (up to 6 m yr<sup>−1</sup>) and volume losses at Abraham,
Hidden, and Minaret glaciers, between 2005 and 2011. Glacier mass balances
appear to be controlled by variations in winter precipitation and,
increasingly, by strong summer and autumn atmospheric warming since the
early 1990s, though further observations are required to fully understand
mass balance sensitivities. This study provides the first comprehensive
contemporary assessment of Labrador glaciers and will inform both regional
impact assessments and syntheses of global glacier mass balance. |
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ISSN: | 1994-0416 1994-0424 |