Research Grants
2015 RCGS Studentship in Northern Geography
Adrienne White, University of Ottawa
Interactions between terrestrial and marine ice losses on Northern Ellesmere Island
Over the past 15 years dramatic changes have occurred to marine ice masses along northern Ellesmere Island, including >50% loss in ice shelf area since mid-2000s and the complete loss of >690 km square of 55-60 year old multiyear landfast sea ice from Yelverton Bay. In connection with these losses, terrestrial ice masses including marine-terminating glacier tongues in Yelverton Inlet have been exposed to young seat ice and open water events for the first time since records began. Similar marine ice losses in Antarctica have triggered the rapid acceleration and collapse of adjacent glaciers, but it is currently unknown if this process also occurs on tidewater glaciers in the Canadian Arctic. The objective of this study is to complete an inventory of current glacier extents and recent changes on northern Ellesmere Island, and the examine whether changes in one ice type can have cascading effects on the stability of remaining ice types (e.g., whether sea ice reductions lead to ice shelf collapse; whether ice shelf collapses lead to glacier accelerations).
Adrienne White in July 2014, near Milne
Fiord on northern Ellesmere Island. (Courtesy Adrienne White)
Based on where she conducts most
of her master’s research, Adrienne
White’s last name is fitting. Ellesmere
Island — where she has embarked on
an ambitious, overarching assessment
of glaciers and ice shelves — is usually
white as far as the eye can see.
“I’ve chosen the most inaccessible part
of the Canadian Arctic,” she says. “The
pristine nature of the island blew my mind.” But Ellesmere’s remote location
doesn’t protect it from outside influence;
White hopes her research will help people
understand the huge and far-reaching
impacts of climate change.
Over the past 15 years, northern
Ellesmere Island has lost more than 50 per cent of its ice-shelf area. These giant
floating ice slabs, which can form where
glaciers ooze into cold ocean waters, help
plug glaciers’ flow into the ocean, thereby
slowing sea level rise.
With the help of a Studentship in
Northern Geography research grant from The Royal Canadian Geographical
Society, White is using a variety of
methods (including remote sensing and
field research) to look for changes in
Ellesmere’s glaciers, ice shelves and
surrounding sea ice. She wants to know
if changes in one type of ice can trigger a
domino effect, causing instability across
remaining ice types. For example, does
weakening sea ice lead to ice shelf
collapse? Does that in turn quicken the
disappearance of glaciers?
Although White has two more years
to complete her study, she predicts
widespread retreat of the island’s ice
coverage. “I feel really connected to that
area,” she says, “but eventually, the ice
shelves will all be gone.”
— Sabrina Doyle
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