Sydkap Glacier, Canadian Arctic: tracking seven decades of change

The acceleration of glacier mass loss in the Canadian Arctic due to rising global temperatures over recent decades has significant implications for sea-level rise. Marine-terminating glaciers are particularly crucial to study because of their susceptibility to both internal and external controls, which complicates identification of the specific drivers of their retreat. Sydkap Glacier, located on Southern Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic, is one of the larger glaciers in the region and has been undergoing terminus-driven dynamic change. This thesis aims to establish a historical record based on remote sensing observations to identify the primary driving forces behind the observed changes. The data include terminus change derived from optical satellite imagery, and vertical change obtained through a combination of recent digital elevation models and historical aerial imagery from 1959 and 1975 that were used to reconstruct past glacier extent using structure-from-motion photogrammetry methods. Additionally, velocity data were acquired from NASA’s ITS_LIVE composites of annual ice velocity, and an investigation of topographical controls was conducted. Collectively, this research provides a detailed record of Sydkap Glacier from 1959 to 2023. Sydkap Glacier experienced a topographically moderated retreat phase of a tidewater glacier cycle between 1972 and the early 2000s. Subsequently, regional trends of increasing temperatures and atmospheric forcing caused a regime shift from the tidewater glacier cycle to one dominated by surface mass balance processes and terminus retreat.