Project Dashboard

Status: COMPLETED SCREENING

  • NIRB File No:

    23YN005

  • Application No.:

    125764

  • Project Type:

    Scientific Research

  • Project Name:

    Helicopter-based radar survey of Devon Ice Cap

Completed Screening

Applicant
  • Montana State University
  • Mark Skidmore
  • Department of Earth Sciences, 226 Traphagen Hall
  • Bozeman, Montana 59717 United States
  • skidmore@montana.edu
Primary Contact
Regulatory Authorities
External Links

Researchers from Montana State University and the University of Texas at Austin including a graduate student, are proposing a project that would conduct a radar survey of the glaciers of the Devon Ice Cap with a focus on Sverdrup Glacier and the summit region. The aerial survey of part of the Devon Ice Cap would use a radar instrument mounted on a helicopter. The survey would be based out of Grise Fiord with the helicopter and personnel returning to the community at the end of each survey day. We anticipate the aerial survey of the Devon Ice Cap would involve 7 to 10 days of survey flights. All personnel would stay in accommodation in Grise Fiord. There would be no field camps associated with this project. The radar survey would provide information on properties of the Devon Ice Cap glaciers with a focus on Sverdrup Glacier and summit region. The survey would provide information on ice thickness, the shape of the glacier bed and the location of water beneath the ice. This data would improve understanding of the way water flows beneath the ice cap and how this might relate to the speed of ice flow. Results from the research would be shared with the communities of Grise Fiord and Resolute Bay and the Nunavut Research Institute. The project would begin at the Polar Continental Shelf Program facility near Resolute Bay, where the radar instruments would be installed on the helicopter. Test flights would be flown from the Polar Continental Shelf Program facility surveying a glacier on southern Devon Island, west of Maxwell Bay before the team transits to Grise Fiord for the scientific survey of the Devon Ice Cap. We anticipate 1 to 3 days of test survey flights. The survey team would transit back to the Polar Continental Shelf Program facility to disassemble the survey system following the scientific survey. The planned research would take place during the period from mid-April to mid-June 2023.

Assessment Phase / Activity
  • Application screening completed 2023-04-19
  • NOI Issued 2023-04-06
  • SDR Issued 2023-04-06
  • Board voting 2023-04-05
  • Received Comment submissions from Parties: Notice re comments received 2023-03-17
  • Commenting period 2023-03-17
  • Application screening started 2023-03-01
Region
  • North Baffin
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