A new study says most glaciers in western Canada will disappear by 2100.
It seems glaciers are melting faster than initially expected and are facing “extinction” if things continue this way because, according to the research we underestimate the rate with which they are melting.
There are a total of 200,000 glaciers around the world and almost 10 percent of them are located in British Columbia and Alberta in the western part of Canada, covering an area of about of 27,000 square kilometers with an average thickness of 112 meters. The Canadian glaciers are the ones losing ice the fastest – almost one percent of their volume annually.
Up until now studies found most of the glaciers in western Canada would lose half of the total volume by 2100. The calculations used to reach this conclusion were based on predictions made according to the difference between the quantity of snow that falls at higher altitudes and that located in lower areas of the glacier.
But Garry Clarke from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver thought of changing calculation methods by basing his study on predictions related to the way glaciers move and change shape as they melt. His findings showed that the rate with which glaciers melt is much higher than what was initially thought meaning western Canada’s inland glaciers will melt by 90 percent until the end of this century. It is expected glaciers’ melting peak will be reached in the next 25 years.
Coastal glaciers will lose less ice, about 70 percent. The reason behind this is higher precipitation in these areas. As Clarke explains:
“As long as winter precipitation lands as snow rather than rain, they will be well nourished.”
Andreas Vieli from the University Of Zurich, Switzerland further explains that once the glaciers are fragmented, gravity will bring the remaining ice from upper, colder levels to lower much warmer areas thus speeding up the melting process.
The melting process will boost river flows in western Canada possibly affecting the activity of hydroelectric dams which are designed to use certain amounts of the seasonal flow.
Similar situations will occur in glacier areas of Asia and South America. The study warns that this rise in river flow should not be taken as a sign of abundance but as an indication glaciers are on the verge of “extinction”.
Image Source: CBC News
