The Agassiz Ice Cap formerly Agassiz Glacier 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 featu ...
on the central eastern side of
Ellesmere Island
Ellesmere Island ( iu, script=Latn, Umingmak Nuna, lit=land of muskoxen; french: île d'Ellesmere) is Canada's northernmost and third largest island, and the tenth largest in the world. It comprises an area of , slightly smaller than Great Bri ...
,
Nunavut
Nunavut ( , ; iu, ᓄᓇᕗᑦ , ; ) is the largest and northernmost territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the '' Nunavut Act'' and the '' Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act'' ...
, Canada.
The Agassiz ice cap is about in area.
It is located between the North Ellesmere ice field to the north and the
Prince of Wales Icefield to the south.
Environmental studies
Several studies have been conducted which involve the analysis of
ice cores
An ice core is a core sample that is typically removed from an ice sheet or a high mountain glacier. Since the ice forms from the incremental buildup of annual layers of snow, lower layers are older than upper ones, and an ice core contains ...
extracted from the Agassiz Ice cap. Many of these studies are focused around
climate change
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...
.
References
Bodies of ice of Qikiqtaaluk Region
Ellesmere Island
Arctic Cordillera
Ice caps of Canada
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