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Barnes Ice Cap

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earth-science21 days ago•5 min saved

Bare Ice Arrives Early on Barnes Ice Cap, 2026 Melt Quickens

Landsat 9 imagery shows Barnes Ice Cap on Baffin Island losing its snow cover unusually early in the 2026 Arctic summer, exposing bare ice dotted with blue meltwater ponds and a widening network of meltwater channels. With snow gone, the ice warms and melts faster, indicating continued thinning and retreat (historically about 4 m per year over 40 years, with some areas retreating much faster) and earlier surface runoff that reduces refreezing.

via NASA Science (.gov)|

#barnes-ice-cap #climate-change #earth-science

space4 months ago•96 min saved

Tiny Arctic lake slices Canada's oldest ice cap, seen from space

A 2010 NASA Earth Observatory image shows Gee Lake bending across the snowy rim of the Barnes Ice Cap on Baffin Island, the last remnant of Canada’s ancient Laurentide Ice Sheet. The roughly 3.2-kilometer lake sits at the edge of a glacier up to 500 meters thick, where meltwater has carved grooves that appear as ridges across the ice. The Barnes Ice Cap, exposed in this scene as snow-free at the edge, dates back about 20,000 years and is shrinking like other Arctic glaciers due to warming temperatures; a 2017 study estimated most of the ice could disappear within about 300 years. The image illustrates how small melt lakes and glacial dynamics shape this ancient landscape and how the Laurentide legacy continues to influence oceans and sea-level rebound today.

via Live Science|

#barnes-ice-cap #climate-change #earth-observation