Historical ice database (lakes, rivers, landfast ice sites)

The year 1998 was the warmest on record in Canada and globally, with particularly pronounced warming anomalies located over the Canadian Arctic in the spring and fall seasons. This warming had major implications for snow, ice and permafrost (the cryosphere) in the north e.g., open water formed earlier than had been previously observed, sea ice extent in the Canadian Arctic in September was 25% less than the previous recorded minimum, and there was above normal glacier ablation, snow melt, and active layer development. The aim of this project was to carry out a detailed assessment of the response of the Arctic cryosphere to this warming event, to place this event in the context of the known climate variability over the last three to four decades, and to understand how some of the observed changes interact with the Arctic climate system.