# Barnes Ice Cap

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Ice cap in Nunavut, Canada

Barnes Ice Cap Sentinel-2 image (2019) Location in Nunavut, Canada Type Ice cap Location Baffin Island Coordinates 70°00′N 73°30′W / 70.000°N 73.500°W / 70.000; -73.500

The **Barnes Ice Cap** is an [ice cap](/source/Ice_cap) located in central [Baffin Island](/source/Baffin_Island), [Nunavut](/source/Nunavut), Canada.

## Geography

It covers close to 6,000 km2 (2,300 sq mi) in the area of the [Baffin Mountains](/source/Baffin_Mountains). It has been thinning due to regional warming.[1] Between 2004 and 2006, the ice cap was thinning at a rate of 1 m (3 ft 3 in) per year.

The ice cap contains Canada's oldest ice, some of it being over 20,000 years old.[2] It is a remnant of the [Laurentide Ice Sheet](/source/Laurentide_Ice_Sheet), which covered most of Canada during the last [glacial period](/source/Glacial_period) of the Earth's [current ice age](/source/Quaternary_glaciation).[3] Generator Lake is located at the southeastern end of the ice cap.[4]

## Exploration

A team from [Laramie, Wyoming](/source/Laramie%2C_Wyoming), United States, made the first bicycle traverse of the Barnes Ice Cap in 1995.[5] The team was sponsored by the Wyoming Alpine Club and included brothers Mike and Dan Moe — some of the first people to complete the Continental Divide mountain biking route from Canada to Mexico — along with Sharon Kava and Brad Humphrey.

After crossing the ice cap, the team abandoned their bikes and sleds at [70°31′43″N 73°18′42″W / 70.52861°N 73.31167°W / 70.52861; -73.31167](https://geohack.toolforge.org/geohack.php?pagename=Barnes_Ice_Cap&params=70_31_43_n_73_18_42_w_) on August 22, 1995, to expedite their travel over boulder fields to Baffin Bay. They intended for the bikes to be picked up later. All members of the 1995 party died of hypothermia after an aluminum boat captained by Innumariik guide Jushua Ilauq of [Clyde River](/source/Clyde_River_(Baffin_Island)) was capsized by a breaching bowhead whale. Ilauq alone survived due to wearing a cold-weather survival suit, and lived until 2025.[6][7]

In 2009 geologist Kurt Refsnider stumbled upon the bikes by chance.[8] The story of the expedition was chronicled by a childhood friend of Mike Moe, writer Mark Jenkins in *[Outside](/source/Outside_(magazine))* magazine in 2006 and 2022.[5][9]

The Barnes Ice Cap on Baffin Island. A portion of the Barnes Ice Cap near its south-eastern end.

## See also

- [List of glaciers](/source/List_of_glaciers)

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Sneed, William; Hooke, Roger; Hamilton, Gordon (January 2008), ["Thinning of the south dome of Barnes Ice Cap, Arctic Canada, over the past two decades"](http://geology.geoscienceworld.org/cgi/content/abstract/36/1/71), *GeoScienceWorld*, v.36, no. 1 (1): 71–74, [Bibcode](/source/Bibcode_(identifier)):[2008Geo....36...71S](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2008Geo....36...71S), [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1130/G24013A.1](https://doi.org/10.1130%2FG24013A.1)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["Canada's oldest ice formation melting at alarming rate, scientists say"](https://web.archive.org/web/20110511080544/http://www.canada.com/topics/technology/science/story.html?id=41aeca3c-30a6-4847-88cd-8b1bc8a29d9c) (Press release). CanWest News Service. Jan 9, 2008. Archived from [the original](http://www.canada.com/topics/technology/science/story.html?id=41aeca3c-30a6-4847-88cd-8b1bc8a29d9c) on 2011-05-11. Retrieved Jan 6, 2010.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** ["Barnes Ice Cap, Baffin Island, Canada"](https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/46304/barnes-ice-cap-baffin-island-canada). *NASA Earth Observatory*. 2010-10-04. Retrieved 2024-11-05. A remnant of the Laurentide Ice Sheet that sprawled over North America during the Pleistocene Age, the Barnes Ice Cap is a bowling-pin-shaped glacier on Canada's Baffin Island.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-NRCan_4-0)** Government of Canada, Natural Resources Canada. ["Place names - Query by name"](https://geonames.nrcan.gc.ca/search-place-names/search). *geonames.nrcan.gc.ca*.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-auto_5-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-auto_5-1) ["Tragedy in Baffin Bay"](https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/exploration-survival/baffin-bay-tragedy-mike-moe-wyoming-alpine-club/). 14 February 2022.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** ["Meet the Isaruit Staff - Isaruit Inuit Arts"](https://isaruit.ca/isaruit-staff/). 31 August 2021.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** ["Kautaq Jushua Ilauq December 28, c.1950– February 12, 2025"](https://isaruit.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/MEMORIALCARD-Jushua-Illauq.pdf) (PDF). *isaruit.ca*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** ["Coincidental Divide"](http://krefs.blogspot.com/2010/12/coincidental-divide.html).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** ["Above and Beyond"](https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/climbing/above-and-beyond/). 2 October 2006.

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v t e Glaciers of Nunavut Qikiqtaaluk Region Ad Astra Agassiz Barnes Benedict Coronation Devon Disraeli Eugenie Gull Jimi Maasi Kaparoqtalik Keyhole Kiitarayuk Macculloch Nuuksuq Oliver Parrish Penny Sermilik Sirngmikuluk Sven Hedin Turnabout Utinatuk West Pioneer

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Barnes Ice Cap](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnes_Ice_Cap) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnes_Ice_Cap?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.