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(Image credit: NASA/EO -1 )
FAST FACTS
Where is it? Barnes Ice Cap, Baffin Island, Canada [69.8543969, -72.30088281]
What’s in the image? A lake bisecting the snowy rim of an ancient glacier
Which satellite took the picture? NASA’s Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite
When was it taken? Sept. 4, 2010
This striking satellite picture reveals the point where a small lake bisects the snowy rim of an enormous ancient glacier on a Canadian island in the Polar circle
The little body of water, called Gee Lake, is around 2 miles (3.2 kilometers)throughout at its largest point. It lies along the edge of the southeast limb of the Barnes Ice Cap — an approximately 2,300-square-mile(6,000 square kilometers), “bowling-pin-shaped” glacier positioned at the center of Baffin Island in Canada’s Nunavut area.
In this image, caught in early September 2010, both the lake and the ice cap are still snow-free, other than for the ice cap’s edge, due to warmer summer season temperature levels. As an outcome, we can see the dark gray of the glacier, which is brought on by the accumulation of dust in between layers of ice “spanning time periods that dwarf a human life,” according to NASA’s Earth Observatory(In the winter season, the glacier, lake and surrounding landscape are blanketed with snow.)The exposed ice, which depends on 1,600 feet (500 meters) thick, is marked with striations that appear like the “growth lines on a clamshell” running east to west, Earth Observatory agents composed.
These grooves are ridges cut by meltwater streams running the glacier, Ted Scambosa glaciologist at the University of Colorado Boulder and the National Snow and Ice Data Center, informed the Earth Observatory. And while they offer the impression that the ice is undulating, the surface area of the glacier is remarkably flat and smooth, he included.
The Barnes Ice Cap is typically described
as a bowling pin due to its shape when seen from above. Gee Lake(circled around)is among numerous bodies of water that surround the glacier’s edge.
(Image credit: Copernicus)Ice core samples gathered from the glacier expose that parts of the Barnes Ice Cap go back around 20,000 years, making it Canada’s earliest understood ice, according to a 2008 research studyIt is likewise the last staying piece of the Laurentide Ice Sheet, which covered the majority of Canada and the northern U.S. as far back as 100,000 years back and assisted to take the Great Lakes.
By around 20,000 years back, as the last glacial epoch started to thawthe majority of the Laurentide Ice Sheet had actually dissolved. What was left gradually moved north, towards what is now Baffin Island, where it ultimately vanished into the sea (aside from the Barnes Ice Cap). A 2009 research study exposed that the majority of the melting ice travelled through the Kangiqtualuk Uqquqti Fjord (formerly referred to as the Sam Ford Fjord), around 70 miles (110 km) northeast of Gee Lake.
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Many of the Laurentide Ice Sheet is long gone, we can still see its effects today. Current research study has actually revealed that its meltwater has substantially transformed ocean currentswhile the geological “rebound” triggered by the disappeared weight that as soon as pushed down on North America might be triggering some significant U.S. cities to sink and likewise impacting parts of Greenland
The Laurentide Ice Sheet covered the leading half of North America in between 100,000 and 20,000 years back. The Barnes Ice Cap is all
that is left of this enormous structure.
(Image credit: Dalton et al. 2022 by means of Wikimedia)Like the majority of other glaciers in the Arctic and Antarcticathe Barnes Ice Cap is diminishing as an outcome of increasing temperature levels from human-caused environment modification
Its existing rate of ice loss is very little– simply a couple of meters of retreat per year– this will increase dramatically as temperature levels increase even more. A 2017 research study anticipates that the majority of the glacier will “likely disappear in the next 300 years.”
See more Earth from area
Glacier, lake and river’touch’
A 2021 astronaut picture reveals a triple valley system in Argentina’s Los Glaciares National Park where an enormous climate-resilient glacier, a beautiful blue-green lake and a dirty green “river” come together at a single point.
Enormous blue’ melt pond ‘in Arctic
A 2014 picture reveals a huge, iceberg-littered swimming pool of lively blue meltwater sitting alone on top of a glacier in Alaska.
Trio of glaciers defy expectations
A 2023 astronaut image reveals 3 glaciers combining into a single huge ice mass in the Karakoram mountains. The stripy glaciers have actually acquired ice in current years, regardless of the impacts of human-caused environment modification.
Harry is a U.K.-based senior personnel author at Live Science. He studied marine biology at the University of Exeter before training to end up being a reporter. He covers a vast array of subjects consisting of area expedition, planetary science, area weather condition, environment modification, animal habits and paleontology. His current deal with the solar optimum won “best space submission” at the 2024 Aerospace Media Awards and was shortlisted in the “top scoop” classification at the NCTJ Awards for Excellence in 2023. He likewise composes Live Science’s weekly Earth from area series.
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