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You are browsing the archive for Canada glacier retreat Archives - Page 3 of 6 - From a Glacier's Perspective.

April 14, 2017

Swiftcurrent Glacier, British Columbia, Swiftly Retreating 1986-2015

Swifttcurrent Glacier Comparison from 1986 and 2015 Landsat images.  Red arrow is the 1986 terminus, yellow arrow 2015 terminus, purple arrow significant tributaries in 1986, and purple dots the snowline. Swiftcurrent Glacier drains the southeast side of Mount Longstaff 15 km NW of Mount Robson.  The glacier is near the headwaters of the Fraser River, and its retreat since 1986 has led to the formation of a new alpine lake. Here …

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April 12, 2017

Beautiful British Columbia Land of Many Mountains & Dwindling Glaciers

British Columbia is host to many mountain ranges; Purcell, Monashee, Bugaboo, Selkirk, Cariboo, Coat Range, Kootenay, Kwadacha are just some of the diverse mountain ranges  that host glaciers and span climate zone. A shared characteristic today regardless of climate zone or mountain range is dwindling glacier size and volume.  Bolch et al (2010) found that from 1985-2005 Alberta glaciers lost 25% of their area and BC glaciers 11% of their …

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March 17, 2017

Bridge Glacier Terminus Collapse, BC, 4 km retreat 1985-2016

Bridge Glacier comparison in 1985 and 2016 Landsat Images.  Red arrow is the 1985 terminus, yellow arrow the 2016 terminus and purple arrows indicate locations where tributaries have separated between the two dates.  Bridge Glacier is an 17 km long outlet glacier of the Lillooet Icefield in British Columbia. The glacier ends in a rapidly expanding glacial lake and had an observed retreat rate of 30 m per year from …

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March 15, 2017

Klippi Glacier Retreat Causes Separation, British Columbia

Klippi Glacier in Landsat images of 1987 to 2016. Red arrows indicate 1987 terminus, yellow arrows 2016 terminus and purple dots the transient snowline.  The glacier beings at 2600 m sharing a divide with Klinaklini Glacier, flowing northwest from Silverthrone Mountain and terminating at  1040 m in 1987. Klippi Glacier drains into the Machmell River, Owikeno Lake and then River Inlet on the British Columbia Coast. The Machmell River is …

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March 1, 2017

Trinity-Wykeham Glacier Retreat, Causing Separation, Ellesmere Is. Canada

Trinity (T) and Wykeham (W) Glacier in 1999 and 2016 Landsat images.  Red arrow indicates 1999 margin, yellow arrow 2016 margin, yellow dots the actual ice front.  Trinity (T) and Wykeham (W) Glacier flow east from Ellesmere Island into a fjord off of Nares Strait.  Until recently the two have been joined just before the terminus. Millan et al (2017) observed glaciers in the region.  They noted a change  in ice …

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January 25, 2017

Columbia Glacier, Alberta 3 km Retreat 1986-2015

Comparison of Columbia Glacier, which is the glacier flowing into the lake at top in 1986 and 2015 Landsat images. The red arrow is the 1986 terminus, yellow arrow the 2015 terminus position and purple arrow the tributary. The Columbia Glacier drains the northwest side of Columbia Icefield into the Athabasca River in Alberta. The glacier in 1964 was 8.5 km long, by 1980 9.5 km long and in 2015 6.2 …

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January 20, 2017

Penny Ice Cap Northern Outlet Retreat, Baffin Island

Penny Ice Cap Northern Outlet Glacier #43 in 1989 and 2016 Landsat images. Red arrow indicates 1989 terminus, yellow arrow 2016 terminus.  Two peripheral ice masses are at Point A and B.  The primary northern outlet from the Penny ice Cap is an unnamed glacier, noted as #43 in the recent study by Van Wychen et al (2015). it is one of two large tidewater outlet glaciers on Baffin Island. Here …

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January 9, 2017

Coronation Glacier, Baffin Island Retreat Leads to Building a New Island

A Landsat image from 1989 and a Sentinel 2 image from2016 illustrate the retreat of Coronation Glacier.  Red arrows indicate the 1989 terminus and yellow arrows the 2016 terminus location.  Purple numbers 1-5 indicate locations of tributary retreat or thinning. Purple numbers 6-9 are icecaps that did not retain snowcover in 2016.  Coronation Glacier is the largest outlet glacier of the Penny Ice Cap on Baffin Island. The glacier has …

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December 28, 2016

Canadian Columbia Basin Glacier Fall 2016 Field Season

Guest Post by Ben Pelto, PhD Candidate, UNBC Geography, [email protected] Figure 1. An illustration of the glacier mass balance sum. Mass balance is equal to the amount of snow accumulation and the amount of ice melt over time. Traditionally, this is reported as annual mass balance (how much mass a glacier gained or lost in a particular year) and is reported in meters water equivalent (mwe). The Columbia Basin Glacier …

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November 18, 2016

Barnes Ice Cap, Baffin Island Evident Response to Climate Change

Barnes Ice Cap transect and closeup of divide area in August 2016.  Black dots indicate summit divide of the ice cap. Notice the channels extending away from the divide.  These are not stream channels, as they are too wide, but they are meltwater formed valleys that are preferred pathways for the meltwater transport. Barnes Ice Cap located in the center of Baffin Island, Canada covers an area of ~5800 km2. …

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