Accumulation, Ablation, and Oxygen Isotope Variations on the Queen Elizabeth Islands Ice Caps, Canada

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Abstract
Measurements made on traverses over ice caps in the Queen Elizabeth Islands show that there is a region of very high accumulation (>40 g cm–2year–1) on the slopes facing Baffin Bay and one of low accumulation (–2year–1) in the interior parts of northern Ellesmere Island. Ablation rates in summer show much less regional variation over the same ice caps except for lower rates along the north-west edge of the islands and possibly on the Baffin Bay slopes as well. However, there is a stronger relationship between ablation and elevation which is exponential below the firn line. From the fractional18O content of the snow it is shown that Baffin Bay contributes significant amounts of moisture (>20% of the total) to the Baffin Bay slopes. In addition the Arctic Ocean is seen as another, but much less significant, moisture source. The δ18O data show two effects on the condensation processes—an orographic one (i.e. adiabatic cooling) and a distance-from-source effect (isobaric cooling) where the source is somewhere to the south-east of the islands.