Arctic Climate During the Franklin Era [Deduced From Ice Cores] (1985)

Abstract

Ice cores from near the top of High Arctic ice caps provide a means of studying past climate. Time series of summer melt layers, oxygen isotope ratios and regional pollen concentrations from High Arctic ice caps are used to study climate conditions during the years of the Franklin expedition and subsequent search activities. The analysis shows that the Franklin Era (1845-1859) was the culmination of a 50-year period of consistently unfavourable summers. Based on modern synoptic analogs, the climate and sea ice conditions or the era can be summarised as: a) northwesterly flow off the Arctic Ocean penetrating the Canadian Arctic Islands and as far south as Keewatin; b) short, cold, cloudy summers with frequent poor visibility; c) a maximum of one year in five with open water in the Peel Sound-Franklin Strait-Victoria Strait are; d) frequent summers experiencing little or no breakup of sea ice along some portion of Franklin's route. In other words, conditions were considerably worse than modern normal and, in fact, the Franklin Era appears to have been one of the least favourable periods in the past 700 years. While the successful completions of the Northwest Passage made by Amundsen and Larsen were undertaken during more favourable periods than the Franklin attempt, only the icebreaker Labrador encountered conditions surpassing modern normals.

Conclusion

The prolonged period of extreme low summer melt values and evidence for generally poor climatic conditions in ice cores from Arctic Islands, indicate that the Franklin Expedition and much (though perhaps not all) of the subsequent search activity, took place during one of the least favourable climatic periods within the last 1000 years.