Queen Elizabeth Islands: Problems associated with water balance research

The Queen Elizabeth Islands in Arctic Canada are in an extremely remote region with long, cold winters, and 2- to 3-month summers, with 24-h daylight. Snow is a major part of annual precipitation, but there are few Arctic weather stations and precipitation data accuracy is hampered by gauge undercatch. Large spatial variations in snowmelt and evaporation make it difficult to extend point calculations over a basin. Currently no official hydrometric station exists in the Islands and the short-term available records are afflicted by stream gauging problems during peak flows. Annual water balances are often not closed, as not all the components are measured or calculated; this applies to early studies and to all glacierized catchments. Given the sensitivity of polar regions to climatic change and the likely importance of freshwater input to the Arctic Ocean, performing proper water balances for the basins in the Arctic Archipelago is a challenge.