According to almost 50 years of data, the Devon Island ice cap in the Canadian High Arctic is thinning and shrinking.

A paper published in the March edition of Arctic, the journal of the University of Calgary’s Arctic Institute of North America, reports the substantial loss of mass, ice volume and area each year since 1961 of the Devon Island ice cap.

The report shows that between 1961 and 1985 the ice cap both grew and shrank, signifying an overall loss of mass. However, from 1985 onwards, scientists began to notice a steady decline in the volume and area of ice covering one of the largest ice masses in the Canadian High Arctic, an ice mass of approximately 14,400 square kilometres.

This slow death has been evidenced in other ice caps and large sheets of ice the world over. What begins as a couple of years with warmer summers starts a domino effect that is almost irreversible. (more…)

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