The Cold Truth of Ice: Is the Canadian Arctic Disappearing?
By Mateo Bonta, Oceanography ‘28
Almost 750 miles off the coast of Seattle, nestled deep within the Canadian Arctic, lies the Prince of Wales (POW) Icefield, an area composed of 73 tidewater glaciers, which flow down from the mountains and break off into the ocean. In 2019, researchers conducted the first comprehensive assessment on patterns of iceberg production, or glacial calving, in the POW. Tidewater glaciers are scientifically proven to be more susceptible to melt from increased ocean temperature than landfast glaciers, which are anchored to the shore or seafloor. Iceberg plume events allow satellite imaging to accurately identify freshly calved glacial ice, as plume events show up as bright spots on an image when glacial and sea ice mix. With the use of over 8,000 optical satellite images from 1997 through 2015, the researcher’s assessment concluded that of the 73 glaciers identified, the Trinity and Wykeham glaciers were the most active. These two glaciers not only produced the most icebergs out of the 273 total icebergs produced during the study, but in turn experienced the greatest recession from the water.
Satellite image of an iceberg plume event (Image credit: MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates LTD).
Iceberg calved from a Greenland glacier (Image credit: Josh Willis/NASA/JPL).
During the assessment’s time frame, summer air temperatures in the Canadian Arctic generally increased, revealing a weak correlation between air temperature and ice plume events. A stronger and more accurate correlation between the two factors could be found as SAR imaging techniques advance and as data is collected more regularly.
Working in front of calving ice proves to be difficult, as the balance between personal safety and data collection is important. Which plays into the lack of long-term ocean temperature measurements up against the glaciers. Regardless, the correlation raises alarms about a longer open water season where sea ice thickness and extent decreases, which in turn damages the POW’s natural barrier between the open ocean and the Canadian Arctic. As this barrier decreases, glaciers such as Trinity and Wykeham are more susceptible to warmer open ocean water.
Image credit: The NCEP/NCAR 40-Year Reanalysis Project.
To improve research efforts on remote areas like this one, organizations like Natural Resources Canada's Glaciology Project are crucial in gathering data on changes in the ice fields. This data provides climate scientists with up to date information and gives decision makers the ability to plan new ways to adapt to or help our changing climate. However, if mitigation isn’t implemented quick enough, Seattle could see nearly a foot in sea level rise by 2050, which would result in high tides 2 feet higher than todays. Though this may not seem concerning, there could be a 5 foot increase in Seattle’s tide height by 2100 which would be devastating for tourist hotspots like the Great Wheel, Piers 62 and 58, and all of the beaches and parks lining Seattle’s coastlines. Bridging the gap between what is politically realistic and goals of scientists may seem to be a task not of our time, but advancements in glaciology and glacier monitoring will allow scientists to better-inform lawmakers who can enact the change needed to protect our Earth.