Arctic Ice may 'melt away' this summer

Homesteader

Just a few links on the "2050 Canadian Breadbasket" from wikipedia on the part that wraps around the southern end of James Bay. The majority of the rest of the "2050 Breadbasket" is essentially the same.

James Bay Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Bay

Snip: James Bay represents the southern extent of the Arctic Archipelago Marine ecozone, while the coastal areas are primarily in the Hudson Plains, whereas the northeastern coast bordering Quebec is in the Taiga Shield ecozone. The eastern shores of the bay form the western edge of the Canadian Shield in Quebec. As such, the terrain here is rocky and hilly with boreal forest. The western shore is characterised by broad tundra lowlands that are an extension of the Hudson Bay Lowlands. Its vegetation is mostly muskeg.

Taiga Shield Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiga_Shield

snip: The ecozone covers almost all of the eastern area of the Northwest Territories, a tiny corner of northeastern Alberta, a narrow strip of all northern Saskatchewan and northwestern Manitoba, as well as all some parts of southern Nunavut. Here, it is interrupted by Hudson Bay, where it abuts with the marine ecozone of the Arctic Archipelago Marine, and resumes on the eastern shores of Hudson Bay on the coast of Quebec, where it continues in a consistently-wide strip towards the ocean, encompassing all but a small portion of Labrador. Is is one of the largest ecozones in Canada, covering 1.3 million square kilometres.

Muskeg link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muskeg

snips: Muskeg is an acidic soil type common in arctic and boreal areas, although it is found in other northern climates as well. Muskeg is more-or-less synonymous with bogland but muskeg is the standard term in Canada and Alaska (while bog is more common elsewhere). Large tracts of this soil existing in Siberia may be called muskeg or bogland interchangeably. Muskeg consists of dead plants in various states of decomposition (as peat), ranging from fairly intact sphagnum moss, to sedge peat, to highly decomposed muck.

Although at first glance muskeg resembles a plain covered with short grasses, a closer look will reveal a bizarre and almost unearthly landscape. Small stands of stunted and often dead trees that vaguely resemble Bonsai trees grow where land protrudes above the water table, with small pools of water stained a dark red scattered about. Its benign grassland appearance invites the unaware to walk on it; however, traveling through muskeg is a very strange and dangerous experience to the unaccustomed. Muskeg can grow directly on top of bodies of water, especially small ponds and streams. Because of the water beneath, the muskeg surface sometimes ripples when walked upon.

Muskeg can be a significant impediment to transportation. During the 1870s, muskeg in Northern Ontario was reported to have swallowed a railroad engine whole when a track was laid on muskeg instead of clearing down to bedrock. Many other instances have been reported of heavy construction equipment vanishing into muskeg in the spring as the frozen muskeg on which the vehicle was parked thawed. Construction in muskeg-laden areas sometimes requires the complete removal of the soil and filling with gravel. If the muskeg is not completely cleared to bedrock then its high water content will cause buckling and distortion from winter freezing, much like permafrost.

Boreal Shield:
During the last ice age, which ended 10 000 years ago, the advance of glaciers is repeatedly plucked and scoured the Shield, carving striations in the bedrock and carrying large boulders many kilometers. In retreat, glaciers blanketed much of the landscape with gravel, sand and other glacial deposits. The many poorly drained depressions left behind, as well as natural faults in the bedrock, now form the millions of lakes, pondes and wetlands that give this ecozone its distinctive character.

Where the scouring effects of glaciation were intense, bare rock outcrops predominate, dotted by colourful arrays of lichen and ground-hugging shrubs.

Cool temperatures, a short growing season, frequent forest fires, and acidic soils challenge plant life in the ecozone. In spite of this, almost 88% of the area is forested by a few highly adaptable trees, such as Black Spruce, White Spruce, Jack Pine and Balsam Fir. Black Spruce, the most common species,

Interactive Ecozones Map of Canada.

A really informative site. Click on the zone choices on the left and see where they are located in Canada. The ecozones that are encompassed by the "2050 Breadbasket" are Hudson Plains, Boreal Shield, and Taiga Shield

Link: http://tinyurl.com/54zw9c

mos6507

steam_cannon · Expert Joined: Dec 28, 2006 Posts: 2467 Location: MA

anagami

steam_cannon · Expert Joined: Dec 28, 2006 Posts: 2467 Location: MA

steam_cannon · Expert Joined: Dec 28, 2006 Posts: 2467 Location: MA

billg

eastbay

... or maybe the girls' parents.
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steam_cannon · Expert Joined: Dec 28, 2006 Posts: 2467 Location: MA

Zardoz

Cid_Yama

Flushing of multi-year sea ice from the Arctic basin

The image below is a low-resolution reproduction of a sequence of satellite images of Arctic ice this past fall and winter. The sequence runs in a continuous loop from October 01, 2007, to March 15, 2008. A link to the high-resolution video file is provided below.

Note the stream of multi-year ice flowing out of the Arctic basin down the east coast of Greenland at one o'clock in the image. As of the middle of March, most of the basin, including the pole itself, appears to be covered only by seasonal ice.

http://www.homerdixon.com/download/arctic_flushing.html
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steam_cannon · Expert Joined: Dec 28, 2006 Posts: 2467 Location: MA

mos6507

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