학술논문

A Small Glacier as an Index of Regional Mass Balance: Baby Glacier, Axel Heiberg Island, 1959-1992
Document Type
research-article
Source
Geografiska Annaler. Series A, Physical Geography, 1998 Jan 01. 80(1), 37-50.
Subject
Glacier
Mass Balance
Equilibrium Zone
Arctic
Glaciers
Glacier mass balance
Mass balance
Glacial accumulation
Glacial landforms
Glacial ablation
Glacial melting
Snow
Cirque glaciers
Fjords
Language
English
ISSN
04353676
14680459
Abstract
Baby Glacier, Axel Heiberg Island, N.W.T., Canada is a small (0.6 km 2 ), high-latitude (79 ⚬ N), high-altitude (700-1200 m) glacier with a mass balance record extending from 1959-60 to the present. The record demonstrates shrinkage of the glacier, but a statistically significant trend is not evident. Correlations are strong between the mass balance of Baby Glacier and that of the nearby and much larger White Glacier, and also those of even larger, more distant glaciers. Thus programmes of measurement on small, simple ice bodies such as Baby Glacier can be representative of a large region. However, inter-annual changes are more accentuated for Baby Glacier. Baby Glacier does not meet all of the usual criteria for a representative glacier, but it straddles the regional equilibrium zone, a fact which helps to offset the disadvantages of its small size and limited altitudinal range. The equilibrium zone deserves to be an important focus for studies of high-arctic mass balance, with the aim of facilitating future measurement programmes which will rely on satellite remote sensing.