Potential to recover a record of Holocene climate and sea ice from Müller Ice Cap, Canada


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daniela.jansen [ at ] awi.de

Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>Müller Ice Cap sits on Umingmat Nunaat (Axel Heiberg Island), Nunavut, Canada, ~ 80°N. Its high latitude and elevation suggest it experiences relatively little melt and preserves an undisturbed paleoclimate record. Here, we present a suite of field measurements, complemented by remote sensing, that constrain the ice thickness, accumulation rate, temperature, ice-flow velocity, and surface-elevation change of Müller Ice Cap. These measurements show that some areas near the top of the ice cap are more than 600 m thick, have nearly stable surface elevation, and flow slowly, making them good candidates for an ice core. The current mean annual surface temperature is −19.6 °C, which combined with modeling of the temperature profile indicates that the ice is frozen to the bed. Modeling of the depth-age scale indicates that Pleistocene ice is likely to exist with measurable resolution (300–1000 yr m<jats:sup>−1</jats:sup>) 20–90 m from the bed, assuming that Müller Ice Cap survived the Holocene Climatic Optimum with substantial ice thickness (~400 m or more). These conditions suggest that an undisturbed Holocene climate record could likely be recovered from Müller Ice Cap. We suggest 91.795°W, 79.874°N as the most promising drill site.</jats:p>



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Published online
Eprint ID
59643
DOI 10.1017/jog.2024.75

Cite as
Lilien, D. A. , Nymand, N. F. , Gerber, T. A. , Steinhage, D. , Jansen, D. , Thomson, L. , Myers, M. , Franke, S. , Taylor, D. , Gogineni, P. , Lemes, M. , Vinther, B. M. and Dahl-Jensen, D. (2024): Potential to recover a record of Holocene climate and sea ice from Müller Ice Cap, Canada , Journal of Glaciology, pp. 1-16 . doi: 10.1017/jog.2024.75


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