Ice Dynamics and Cryospheric Changes in Northern Canada

我的研究计划的中心目标是量化和解释最近的波动和冰川，冰盖，冰架和冰山在加拿大北方的动态和质量平衡之间的相互联系。我们目前知识的一个关键差距是冰川的表面速度分布及其随时间的变化，这限制了我们确定其通量和冰山崩解率的能力。未来的工作将集中在这些冰块的运动如何在十年时间尺度上变化及其与表面质量平衡的联系，冰川涌动与气候强迫在驱动这些变化中的作用，以及冰-海洋相互作用在驱动冰川变化中的意义。测量将以遥感和实地观测相结合为基础，包括在西阿克塞尔海伯格岛、东埃尔斯米尔岛和西南育空地区使用新的和现有的延时摄影机、气象站和差分全球定位系统监测设备。这项工作将与旨在阐明控制南极冰川前沿冰山生成的因素以及冰山生成率是否因海冰减少而发生变化的研究相联系。对控制冰架破裂的因素的调查将涉及对目前流入北方埃尔斯米尔岛海岸线的冰川质量的遥感测量，以及对加拿大北极其余冰架的质量平衡及其空间变异性的实地测定。 这些分析的结果将为有关北极航运模式和风险的工作提供信息，以及控制加拿大北极地区航运活动的因素，以及在海冰减少的情况下这一活动可能如何演变。这些结果还将提供关于加拿大北极地区冰群如何应对气候变暖的关键信息，这是准确预测海平面上升及其未来演变所必需的。

The central aim of my research program is to quantify and explain the interconnections between recent fluctuations and the dynamics and mass balance of glaciers, ice caps, ice shelves and icebergs in northern Canada. A key gap in our current knowledge is the surface velocity distribution of glaciers, and its temporal variability, which limits our ability to determine their fluxes and iceberg calving rates. Future work will focus on how the motion of these ice masses varies on decadal timescales and their connections to surface mass balance, the role of glacier surging vs. climate forcing in driving these changes, and the significance of ice-ocean interactions in driving glacier changes. Measurements will be based on a combination of remote sensing and field observations, including the operation of new and existing timelapse cameras, weather stations and differential GPS monitoring equipment on western Axel Heiberg Island, eastern Ellesmere Island and SW Yukon. This work will be connected to studies aimed at elucidating the factors that control iceberg production at the fronts of tidewater glaciers, and whether iceberg production rates are changing in response to reductions in sea ice. Investigations of the factors that control ice shelf breakups will involve remote sensing measurement of current glacier mass inputs to the coastline of northern Ellesmere Island, and field determination of the mass balance of the remaining Canadian Arctic ice shelves and its spatial variability. The results of these analyses will inform work on Arctic shipping patterns and risks, and the factors that control shipping activity in the Canadian Arctic and how this may evolve in a regime of decreasing sea ice. These results will also provide critical information as to how ice masses in the Canadian Arctic are responding to a warming climate, which is required for accurate predictions of sea level rise and their future evolution.