Abstract

RADARSAT-2 imagery collected each winter from 2015/2016 to 2019/2020 is used to quantify and characterize the variability in the motion of, and the discharge from, the major marine-terminating ice masses of the Queen Elizabeth Islands (QEI: Devon, Ellesmere and Axel Heiberg Islands) in the Canadian High Arctic. The majority of the glaciers did not experience significant variations in flow speeds over the observation period, and for most that did the variations are attributed to pulse and surge processes. However, there are exceptions where the velocity record indicates continued acceleration of the glaciers by processes that appear distinct from surging or pulsing, such as dynamic thinning. These include Trinity and Wykeham glaciers (Prince of Wales Icefield) and Belcher Glacier (Devon Ice Cap). The combination of surface velocities with ice thicknesses indicates that average ice discharge to the ocean for the QEI over the observation period was 2.78 ± 0.52 Gt a⁻¹ (ranging between ∼2.37 ± 0.48 Gt a⁻¹ and ∼3.20 ± 0.55 Gt a⁻¹), ∼50% of which was channeled through the Trinity-Wykeham glacier basin alone. The results presented here, combined with those of previous studies, provide a comprehensive record of ice motion and discharge from the QEI between 2008 and 2020.

抽象的

从2015/2016年至2019/2020年每个冬季收集的RADARSAT-2图像用于量化和表征伊丽莎白女王岛（Queen Elizabeth Islands）（QEI：Devon， Ellesmere和Axel Heiberg群岛）在加拿大高北极地区。大多数冰川在观测期内没有经历流速的显着变化，并且大多数情况下，这种变化归因于脉冲和波动过程。但是，也有例外，速度记录表明冰川的持续加速是通过看起来与波动或脉动不同的过程（例如动态变薄）来进行的。其中包括三一和威克汉姆冰川（威尔士亲王冰原）和贝尔彻冰川（德文冰盖）。^-1（范围在〜2.37±0.48 Gt a ^-1和〜3.20±0.55 Gt a ^-1之间），其中约50％仅通过Trinity-Wykeham冰川盆地导流。此处提供的结果与先前的研究相结合，提供了2008年至2020年期间QEI的冰运动和排放的全面记录。