The Barnes Ice Cap is an
ice cap
In glaciology, an ice cap is a mass of ice that covers less than of land area (usually covering a highland area). Larger ice masses covering more than are termed ice sheets.
Description
Ice caps are not constrained by topographical features ...
located in central
Baffin Island
Baffin Island (formerly Baffin Land), in the Canadian territory of Nunavut, is the largest island in Canada and the fifth-largest island in the world. Its area is , slightly larger than Spain; its population was 13,039 as of the 2021 Canadia ...
,
Nunavut
Nunavut ( , ; iu, ᓄᓇᕗᑦ , ; ) is the largest and northernmost Provinces and territories of Canada#Territories, territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the ''Nunavut Act'' ...
, Canada.
Geography
It covers close to in the area of the
Baffin Mountains. It has been thinning due to regional warming. Between 2004 and 2006, the ice cap was thinning at a rate of per year.
The ice cap contains Canada's oldest ice, some of it being over 20,000 years old.
[
] It is a remnant of the
Laurentide Ice Sheet, which covered much of Canada during the last
glacial period of the Earth's
current ice age. Generator Lake is located at the southeastern end of the ice cap.
[NRCan - Generator Lake]
/ref>
See also
*List of glaciers
A glacier ( ) or () is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight; it forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation (melting and sublimation) over many years, often centuries. Glaciers slowly deform ...
References
Bodies of ice of Baffin Island
Arctic Cordillera
Ice caps of Canada
{{canada-glacier-stub