epishelf

One example is the loss of the largest epishelf lake (fresh and brackish water body contained behind the ice shelf) in the Northern Hemisphere with the deterioration and break up of the Ward Hunt ice shelf [26].

Effects of climate change on general hydro-ecology in the Arctic 2009

Break-up of the largest Arctic ice shelf and associated loss of an epishelf lake.

Effects of climate change on general hydro-ecology in the Arctic 2009

The Ward Hunt Ice Shelf acted as a type of dam in the Disraeli Fjord, resulting in something called an “epishelf lake” in Disaraeli Fjord.

Ellesmere Island Ice Shelves « Climate Audit 2007

The initiation of the crack led to the draining of the epishelf lake.

Ellesmere Island Ice Shelves « Climate Audit 2007

Ellesmere Island contains a range of unique aquatic ecosystems: ice shelves, epishelf lakes, meromictic lakes and tundra ponds.

Ayles Ice Shelf, Ellesmere Island « Climate Audit 2007

As the glaciers on the island melted each summer, their runoff fed the "epishelf lake" that was suspended atop the denser seawater.

Ars Technica 2008

…The immediate consequence of the rupture has been the loss of almost all of the freshwater from the Northern Hemisphere’s largest epishelf lake a body of mostly freshwater trapped behind an ice shelf.

Ellesmere Island Ice Shelves « Climate Audit 2007

Given this interconnection, I don’t see how you can conclude from the information presently in the record that the salt water in the epishelf lake had been there for over 3,000 years; indeed, the evidence seems to be that it is circulated.

Ellesmere Island Ice Shelves « Climate Audit 2007

While some epishelf lakes sit completely on top of an ice shelf — that's what epishelf means — the Milne Fiord epishelf lake was actually connected to the ocean by an under-ice channel in the ice shelf, which has been thinning for about a century.

Canada just lost its last ice shelf lake — and scientists say climate change is transforming the Arctic | CBC News Emily Chung 2026

Canada's only remaining epishelf lake — made up of freshwater floating on saltwater — is gone, along with the unique ecosystem it supported, scientists confirmed in a new study.

Canada just lost its last ice shelf lake — and scientists say climate change is transforming the Arctic | CBC News Emily Chung 2026