Baffin Island’s Ancient Glacier: The Last Fragment of a Colossal Ice Sheet

A satellite image captured on September 4, 2010, by NASA’s Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite has documented the intersection of a small lake and an ancient glacier on Baffin Island, Canada.

The image shows Gee Lake, a body of water approximately 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) across at its widest point, bisecting the snowy rim of the Barnes Ice Cap.

The Barnes Ice Cap is a bowling-pin-shaped glacier situated in the center of Baffin Island within Canada’s Nunavut territory, covering roughly 2,300 square miles (6,000 square kilometers).

Glacial Composition and Characteristics

In the September 2010 imagery, the Barnes Ice Cap appears as a dark gray mass. This coloration is attributed to the accumulation of dust between layers of ice that have formed over time periods described by NASA’s Earth Observatory as spanning time periods that dwarf a human life.

The photo was taken during a period of warmer summer temperatures, which left both the lake and the majority of the ice cap snow-free, with the exception of the ice cap’s edge.

The resulting structure is identified as the last remaining fragment of a colossal ice sheet that previously covered large portions of North America.

Regional Geography and Ice History

Baffin Island is the largest island in Canada and the second-largest in the Americas, following Greenland. It covers an area of 507,451 square kilometers.

According to the 2021 Canadian census, the island had a population of 13,039. Its capital, Iqaluit, is located on Frobisher Bay at the southern tip of the island.

Research into the region’s deglaciation indicates a complex history of retreat. The Lancaster Sound Ice Stream (LSIS), which was embedded within the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS), provides a historical context for how ice sheets respond to warming.

Geophysical and sediment core evidence suggests that the LIS extended onto the northwestern Baffin Island shelf during the Last Glacial Maximum. Evidence from Baffin Bay Detrital Carbonate (BBDC) events implies that large calving retreats occurred into Lancaster Sound, with ice retreating onto Paleozoic carbonate bedrock by approximately 17.1 cal ka BP.

Current Environmental Trends

The historical retreat of these ice masses is mirrored by modern observations. Reports indicate that Arctic glaciers are currently smaller than they have been in human history.

Observations of ice caps in the high Arctic suggest that warmth over the last century has been sufficient to shrink these ice masses.