A series of deep fiords flanked by steep-sided mountains occur along the northern coast of Ellesmere Island at the top of Nunavut, in the Canadian High Arctic. Very little is known about the microbiology and ecology of these remote ecosystems. Some of the fiords contain ice shelves, thick landfast ice floating on the sea, that fully or partially block their entrance (e.g., Disraeli Fiord is blocked by the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf), while others are open to the Arctic Ocean. Where the ice shelves remain intact, the fiords contain a thick layer of freshwater, with sea water beneath. Such environments are called epishelf lakes. They are well known from Antarctica, but are rapidly disappearing from the High Arctic because of the break up of the ice shelves.
The fiords and ice shelves of northern Ellesmere Island. In August 2005, the Ayles Ice Shelf broke out from Ayles Fiord. Image from: Mueller, D.R., Vincent, W.F. & Jeffries, M.O. 2006. Environmental gradients, fragmented habitats, and microbiota of a northern ice shelf cryo-ecosystem, Ellesmere Island, Canada. Arctic, Antarctic and Alpine Research 38: 593-607.
Milne Fiord with the Milne Ice Shelf in the foreground
Sampling the water column and sediment coring in Ayles Fiord
