Université de Fribourg

The abandoned ice sheet base at Camp Century, Greenland, in a warming climate

Colgan, William ; Machguth, Horst ; MacFerrin, Mike ; Colgan, Jeff D. ; As, Dirk van ; MacGregor, Joseph A.

In: Geophysical Research Letters, 2016, vol. 43, no. 15, p. 8091–8096

In 1959 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built Camp Century beneath the surface of the northwestern Greenland Ice Sheet. There they studied the feasibility of deploying ballistic missiles within the ice sheet. The base and its wastes were abandoned with minimal decommissioning in 1967, under the assumption they would be preserved for eternity by perpetually accumulating snowfall. Here we show...

Université de Fribourg

Status of the endangered ivory gull, Pagophila eburnea, in Greenland

Gilg, Olivier ; Boertmann, David ; Merkel, Flemming ; Aebischer, Adrian ; Sabard, Brigitte

In: Polar Biology, 2009, vol. 32, no. 9, p. 1275-1286

The ivory gull, a rare high-Arctic species whose main habitat throughout the year is sea ice, is currently listed in Greenland as ‘Vulnerable’, and as ‘Endangered’ in Canada, where the population declined by 80% in 20 years. Despite this great concern, the status of the species in Greenland has been largely unknown as it breeds in remote areas and in colonies for which population data has...

Université de Fribourg

Canadian pressure observations and circulation variability: links to air temperature

Slonosky, Victoria C. ; Graham, Edward

In: International Journal of Climatology, 2005, vol. 25(11), p. 1473

A set of 71 station series of surface pressure from Canada and Greenland have been examined for quality control and homogeneity. These records range in length from 50 to 130 years. The object of this exercise was to investigate station-based surface pressure series and atmospheric circulation on a decadal time scale, and to examine the effects of the atmospheric circulation on climate. The data...