<p>About a year ago I read about the &quot;arctic oasis of the Lake Hazen&quot; in the Ellesmere Island Wiki article. According to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/000632079390503S" rel="nofollow noreferrer">that article</a>, it is a thermal oasis. In the nearest Greenland areas, there are mud volcanoes, so, warming up from below such a deep lake as Hazen can be easily understandable.</p>
<p>But if you look at the weather map (14 Jan 2024) of the area, you can see, that the area around the lake is warmed up by merely about a pair of degrees, whereas some higher areas are warmed by 10C or even up to 17 degrees.</p>
<p><em>(These warmer spots have a temperature of about -7 - -14C. The background, including the coast, has a temperature of about -24C. The winds here at the moment were all below 5km/h. The cloud map is clean in the whole area. So, there is a clean Polar night both in warm and cold areas. Wetness of the air is below 20%. There are wetter areas to the east, but they haven't higher temperatures. Visibility is 20-30km everywhere)</em></p>
<p>Why numerous mountainous areas on Ellesmere and Axel Heiberg are so much warmer than their surrounding? The reason cannot be the sea current - for they are not on the coast, and the air above the sea has monotonous -24C. The reason cannot be thermals - for if you look at the map of the usual ice/snow coverage, these places are mostly covered by snow, in contrast to colder places. The second reason for the non-thermal source of warmth is that only Lake Hazen is mentioned as a thermal oasis in the literature.</p>
<p>The landscape of these islands contains not only arctic deserts but also large areas of tundra, in contrast to Devon Island, which is further to the south. So, this warmth is not a caprice of the moment.</p>
<p>Other Canadian islands and Greenland have no such anomalies. Already the near Devon island, or Baffin have the traditional picture of colder weather in the mountains and warmer in the valleys or near warmer sea areas, and the difference itself is noticeably smaller. (Though I had not checked the small islands - they simply haven't a place for such spots)</p>
<p>I thought about the effect of the black body - regions, covered by snow, radiate less warmth than the naked areas because of the color... But the other Canadian islands have <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nunatak" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><em>nunataks</em></a> (naked stone areas), too, but without any such effects.</p>
<p>So, <strong>What is the reason for the existence of numerous very warm (10-17C warmer than background) 5-20km areas on these two large islands?</strong></p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/vxvjf.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/vxvjf.jpg" alt="enter image description here" /></a>
<a href="https://i.sstatic.net/tOX1s.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/tOX1s.jpg" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
<p>This question is NOT about the well-known Arctic paradox, connected to global climate change. It is about the climate differences of the numerous close localities.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-01-15T06:15:32.813Z
The first question is really: is it a real phenomenon or some of kind of incorrect artifact... see [What is this warm circle in the middle of Russia?](https://earthscience.stackexchange.com/questions/24673/what-is-this-warm-circle-in-the-middle-of-russia)
JeopardyTempest
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-01-16T00:00:03.123Z
A friend of mine just today supposed an explanation: The islands are warmed up from below, a) by the thermal water, and b) from the significant depth. So, the effect is about +10-20C in winter and +3-5C in summer. The warmer areas of snow and ice cover and tundra landscapes get explanations. Anyway, the picture is fantastic. And I couldn't find any references about thermals warming up the surface on these two islands.
Gangnus
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-01-16T00:01:32.120Z
@JeopardyTempest The picture varies only a bit. it remains the same. Look for the satellite picture here: https://www.msn.com/cs-cz/pocasi/mapy/teplota/in-Po%C4%8Ded%C4%9Blice,%C3%9Asteck%C3%BD?loc=eyJsIjoiUG%2FEjWVkxJtsaWNlIiwiciI6IsOac3RlY2vDvSIsImMiOiLEjGVza28iLCJpIjoiQ1oiLCJnIjoiY3MtY3oiLCJ4IjoiMTMuOTAwNDkzNzYiLCJ5IjoiNTAuMzk4OTgyNTIifQ%3D%3D&weadegreetype=C&ocid=winp2fptaskbar&cvid=8d8c54f96e1b48e6b1b92a3a89b49aa7&zoom=4&alertid=5531704878780
Gangnus
<climate><arctic><canada>
The reason for numerous warmer spots on Ellesmere and Axel Heiberg
Gangnus
# The reason for numerous warmer spots on Ellesmere and Axel Heiberg

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-01-14)

About a year ago I read about the "arctic oasis of the Lake Hazen" in the Ellesmere Island Wiki article. According to [that article](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/000632079390503S), it is a thermal oasis. In the nearest Greenland areas, there are mud volcanoes, so, warming up from below such a deep lake as Hazen can be easily understandable.

But if you look at the weather map (14 Jan 2024) of the area, you can see, that the area around the lake is warmed up by merely about a pair of degrees, whereas some higher areas are warmed by 10C or even up to 17 degrees.

*(These warmer spots have a temperature of about -7 - -14C. The background, including the coast, has a temperature of about -24C. The winds here at the moment were all below 5km/h. The cloud map is clean in the whole area. So, there is a clean Polar night both in warm and cold areas. Wetness of the air is below 20%. There are wetter areas to the east, but they haven't higher temperatures. Visibility is 20-30km everywhere)*

Why numerous mountainous areas on Ellesmere and Axel Heiberg are so much warmer than their surrounding? The reason cannot be the sea current - for they are not on the coast, and the air above the sea has monotonous -24C. The reason cannot be thermals - for if you look at the map of the usual ice/snow coverage, these places are mostly covered by snow, in contrast to colder places. The second reason for the non-thermal source of warmth is that only Lake Hazen is mentioned as a thermal oasis in the literature.

The landscape of these islands contains not only arctic deserts but also large areas of tundra, in contrast to Devon Island, which is further to the south. So, this warmth is not a caprice of the moment.

Other Canadian islands and Greenland have no such anomalies. Already the near Devon island, or Baffin have the traditional picture of colder weather in the mountains and warmer in the valleys or near warmer sea areas, and the difference itself is noticeably smaller. (Though I had not checked the small islands - they simply haven't a place for such spots)

I thought about the effect of the black body - regions, covered by snow, radiate less warmth than the naked areas because of the color... But the other Canadian islands have [*nunataks*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nunatak) (naked stone areas), too, but without any such effects.

So, **What is the reason for the existence of numerous very warm (10-17C warmer than background) 5-20km areas on these two large islands?**

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/vxvjf.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/vxvjf.jpg)
[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/tOX1s.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/tOX1s.jpg)

This question is NOT about the well-known Arctic paradox, connected to global climate change. It is about the climate differences of the numerous close localities.

**Tags:** climate, arctic, canada

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: The first question is really: is it a real phenomenon or some of kind of incorrect artifact... see [What is this warm circle in the middle of Russia?](https://earthscience.stackexchange.com/questions/24673/what-is-this-warm-circle-in-the-middle-of-russia)  
> **username_0**: A friend of mine just today supposed an explanation: The islands are warmed up from below, a) by the thermal water, and b) from the significant depth. So, the effect is about +10-20C in winter and +3-5C in summer. The warmer areas of snow and ice cover and tundra landscapes get explanations. Anyway, the picture is fantastic. And I couldn't find any references about thermals warming up the surface on these two islands.  
> **username_0**: @username_1 The picture varies only a bit. it remains the same. Look for the satellite picture here: https://www.msn.com/cs-cz/pocasi/mapy/teplota/in-Po%C4%8Ded%C4%9Blice,%C3%9Asteck%C3%BD?loc=eyJsIjoiUG%2FEjWVkxJtsaWNlIiwiciI6IsOac3RlY2vDvSIsImMiOiLEjGVza28iLCJpIjoiQ1oiLCJnIjoiY3MtY3oiLCJ4IjoiMTMuOTAwNDkzNzYiLCJ5IjoiNTAuMzk4OTgyNTIifQ%3D%3D&weadegreetype=C&ocid=winp2fptaskbar&cvid=8d8c54f96e1b48e6b1b92a3a89b49aa7&zoom=4&alertid=5531704878780  

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## 0 answers

