Talk:Columbia Icefield

triple continental divide?

The following discussion is copied here from the talk pages of Leonard G. and RupertMillard.

Hiya. I don't know very much about geography, but I was wondering if the Columbia Icefield is actually atop a triple continental divide, as the continental divide article doesn't mention a watershed between the Hudson Bay and the Artic Ocean, I think because the Hudson Bay is really part of the Arctic Ocean. If you're sure, then I'll leave it, but I just wanted to double-check. Hope that's OK. RupertMillard (Talk) 20:17, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

Yes, this is a triple point, at least according to all the guides that I encountered through the region and the guidebooks. This is of course, dependant upon viewpoint. (Google Earth is especially informative in this respect.) Note that Hudson Bay has two oceanic connections - to the left, through the Gulf of Boothia and Prince Regent Inlet, thence left through Perry Sound and the Arctic Ocean, or to the right - through the Hudson Strait and the Labrador Sea to the Atlantic. Clearly, the latter is the far wider passage and would be considered the major path to the nearest ocean, the North Atlantic Ocean. There should be another triple point to the south along the Rocky Mountains, dividing Pacific, North Atlantic, and Gulf of Mexico water flows. - Leonard G. 23:12, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

I reordered the rivers and their destinations clockwise for clarity. The final copy:

The Columbia River, Athabasca River, and the North Saskatchewan River, originate in the Columbia Icefield. As the icefield is atop a triple continental divide these waters flow ultimately west to the Pacific Ocean, north to the Arctic Ocean, and east to Hudson's Bay (and thence to the North Atlantic) respectively. Hudson's bay is in some major watershead divisions considered to be in the Arctic watershead, in which case this is arguably not a triple divide point.

I think that's absolutely excellent. It reads well and pedants like me can't fault it. Thank you very much for your help. RupertMillard (Talk) 08:17, 19 April 2006 (UTC)

Just a sidenote to the original query: Hudson Bay is more or less part of the Atlantic via Frobisher and Davis Straits; its access to the Arctic Ocean is a lot less open and is more like a maze than a channel; in hard-definition terms it's an extension of the Atlantic; in real-world terms it's properly a "sea" like the Mediterranean, Black or Baltic. Still, in Glacier Park in Montana there's a triple divide between the Columbia, Hudson Bay (via the Oldman/Bow/S. Saskatchewan) and the Gulf of Mexico/Atlantic...there's another one in Wyoming involving the Colorado.Skookum1 19:05, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

Your argument makes sense, but the article at Hudson Bay notes that the International Hydrographic Organization lists Hudson Bay as part of the Arctic Ocean. Also, the maps in the articles at Arctic Ocean and at Atlantic Ocean count Hudson Bay as part of the Arctic Ocean, as does the map at Continental Divide. It seems to me that we ought to reword here to be more in accord with those articles. 65.213.77.129 (talk) 13:04, 8 May 2009 (UTC)

There are extensive discussions about this somewhere, including observations of the redundancy and contradictions of the IHF's classification esp. vs. those from Cangov scientific bodies; I think at Talk:Continental Divide of the Americas or maybe Talk:Triple Divide Peak. Haven't revisited the issue for quite a while; this is just an ancillary article for the same issue, one of many; it would be nice to harmonize them all, but that won't be by simplifying them to just what the IHO says; as you'll see in the discusisons referenced (if those aren't them I'll find them later) that classification has questions and contra-indications to it, even from withing the IHO. In pure-obvious-fact terms, if Davis Bay and Baffin Strait aren't part of the Arctic Ocean, how can Hudson Bay be? There are also bodies of water within the ARctic Archipelago that are not classified as part of teh Arctic Ocean, and in fact do not even have names; so if Hudson Bay is on the other side of them from the main body of the Arctic Ocean, how can they be part of teh same object; unelss it's like East and West Pakistan or East and West Prussia.....and noted again, Cangov departments dn't agree with the IHO, evne though CAnadian scientists are part of the IHO.....Skookum1 (talk) 14:48, 8 May 2009 (UTC)

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