John Thompson
Northern News Services

Grise Fiord (June 13/05) - Myna Kiguktak never realized how fast the glacier that hangs above the community of Grise Fiord has melted, until one day a gash in the rocky hills above it was explained to her.

About 150 years ago the glacier, at its peak, tore a strip off the neighbouring hills. Today that scar stands about 40 metres above the glacier, serving as a convenient marker to show how much ice has melted.

"I was really surprised. I couldn't believe it was that big, and how fast it's melted," said the Grade 10 student. "It would be worrying if it disappeared."

She learned to read the surrounding landscape for signs of the glacier's retreat from Roy Koerner, who has visited Grise Fiord since 1997 during his studies around the North as a geologist for the Canadian government. During his visits, he tries to involve the residents who live there by explaining his work.

"It was clear they were very interested," he said. "They live there, so it's only natural they want to know what is going on."

At a healthy state, a glacier gains as much ice at its top, where it's the coldest, as it loses at the bottom where run-off begins. In the case of Grise's glacier, it has consistently lost more ice than it has gained, and Koerner doesn't have any doubts the glacier's shrinking size is connected with global warming caused by greenhouse gases.

While the Grise glacier faces no dangers of disappearing any time soon, some smaller ones have already vanished.

"Essentially, the smaller the glacier the more they're losing mass."

He says he's spoken to elders in Panniqtuuq who remember smaller glaciers during their youth that no longer exist.

"They've bitten the dust already."

But Koerner isn't concerned about the largest of glaciers, which he says have the potential of outlasting any trends caused by human civilizations.

"They're going to survive fossil fuels."