The Penny Ice Cap, formerly Penny Icecap,Penny Ice Cap (Formerly Penny Icecap) is a ice cap in Auyuittuq National Park of Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada. It forms a high barrier on the Cumberland Peninsula, an area of deep fjords and glaciated valleys. It is a remnant of the Laurentide ice sheet. During the mid-1990s, Canadian researchers studied the glacier's patterns of freezing and thawing over centuries by drilling ice core samples.NOAA Paleoclimatology: Penny Ice Cap Data
The ice cap has been thinning and its valley glaciers have been retreating in recent decades related to rising summer and winter air temperatures across the eastern Arctic.NASA: Penny Ice Cap in 1979 and 2000C. Zdanowicz et al.: Summer melt rates on Penny Ice Cap, Baffin Island: Past and recent trends, and implications for regional climate
The ice cap is named after Captain William Penny, a whaling captain from Aberdeen, Scotland. Penny pioneered over-wintering with Inuit at Cumberland Sound in the 19th century so that he could begin whaling much earlier in the season than his competitors. He was also engaged by Lady Jane Franklin to search for John Franklin and his lost expedition, who had gone missing with all his crew in the search for the Northwest Passage.
See also List of glaciers
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