21 tourists evacuated from national park on Baffin Island - climate change

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http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/index.php?smp=&lang=eng


Area: Canada, Nunavut, Baffin Island,

!!! WARNING !!!

Description:

Thawing permafrost, eroding lakeshores, a melting glacier and fears of flash floods at a national park on Baffin Island have forced the evacuation of 21 tourists and led officials to declare much of the wilderness reserve off-limits until geologists and ice experts can assess what appear to be the latest dramatic effects of climate change in Canada's Arctic. The 19,000-square-kilometre Auyuittuq National Park on the island's northeast coast has recently experienced "record-breaking" warmth and substantial amounts of rain, Parks Canada spokeswoman Pauline Scott said yesterday. "This summer's events are beyond anything we're used to," Scott said from Iqaluit. "This is no doubt a result of climate change." Earlier this week, scientists reported a chunk of Ward Hunt Ice Shelf at the northern tip Ellesmere Island had broken away, almost certainly the result of an Arctic warming trend that led last year to a record melt of the polar ice cap and opened the Northwest Passage shipping route more completely than ever before.

This week's crisis at Auyuittuq follows June flooding in the nearby community of Pangnirtung, where rain, melting ice and eroding riverbanks forced the shutdown of a key bridge linking the hamlet's two sides. Auyuittuq's dominant feature, the Penny Ice Cap, has been shedding water for weeks and warm weather has destabilized the shoreline around Crater Lake, a popular site in the park. Officials, concerned that the lake could catastrophically drain into a nearby valley, arranged a helicopter evacuation of tourists from the area with help from the Canadian Coast Guard and the RCMP. "Permafrost has melted in lots of areas," said Scott. "The lakes are held back by moraines that appear to be giving away. We need some advice." Photographs of the park's disturbed features have been sent to experts in Alberta who recently returned from Baffin Island after assisting Pangnirtung officials with the emergency there. A 60-kilometre stretch of the main 97-kilometre trail into the park has been closed due to the "slumping and erosion" of land and resulting flood risks, Scott said. "We don't feel that sector is safe for visitors," she added, noting that August is typically the prime time for tourists to visit the park.

Damage level: Heavy (Level 3)