80% Of Mountain Glaciers In Yukon, Alberta And BC Will Be Gone In 50 Years Or Less

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The first State of the Mountains report, co-authored by Hik and Robinson and published in May by the Alpine Club of Canada, says outside of the ice sheets of Antarctica and Greenland, Canada has more glacier cover than any other nation. Of the estimated 200,000 square kilometres of Canadian glaciers, one quarter is found in the west of the country and the remainder are in the Canadian Arctic archipelago.

Robinson said mountain glaciers, given their sensitivity to warming, are showing the earliest and most dramatic signs of ice loss, and the St. Elias Mountains in Yukon are losing ice at the fastest rate. "Yukon glaciers in the St. Elias ranges have lost approximately one-quarter of ice cover since the 1950s," he said.

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While the melt increases water levels and sets off coastal erosion and flooding, it also causes dry areas and dust bowls. As glaciers recede, more water flows downhill, but the further the ice sheets retreat, the less water there is to go down stream and soon the area begins to dry, Hik said. "In places like the Kluane River in Yukon there is significantly more dust because the valley that the river flows through is essentially dried out," he said.

But the area still experiences katabatic winds — winds coming off the glacier — which are quite strong and blow the dust from the dried stream beds further out on the landscape, Hik said. This dust can create problems for vegetation by settling on trees and plants, and reducing photosynthesis, he said.

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https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/western-glaciers-disappear-50-years-1.4959663