Climate change is driving the rapid loss of most of the world’s glaciers, including those here in British Columbia.

While shrinking glaciers have received widespread attention, a new study has also set out how warmer weather is affecting glacier surges.

Glacier surges are a natural phenomenon that see a small proportion of glaciers surge forwards over months or years.

Ahead of World Day for Glaciers on Saturday, Simon Fraser University experts are available to talk about the vital importance of glaciers in B.C. and beyond.

“Glaciers are magical and exquisitely beautiful,” says Gwenn Flowers, professor, Department of Earth Sciences.

“They should be changing on geologic timescales much longer than our own lifetimes. But when you see their retreat over a matter of years, it is very unsettling.”

Flowers is co-author of a recent study that sought to determine why and how glacier surges are changing.

“The warming climate is certainly tampering with glacier surges. They are becoming more difficult to predict and so they’re becoming more hazardous for communities living in their vicinity,” says Flowers.

Surging glaciers tend to be clustered across the Arctic, including the Yukon, Andes, Himalayas and other high mountains in Asia. 

Glaciers in retreat

The loss of glaciers in B.C. is a cause for alarm, according to Sam Anderson, post-doctoral research fellow at the School of Environmental Science.

“As B.C. continues to lose ice at unprecedented rates due to ongoing climate change, our water systems will become more challenging to manage and live alongside,” says Anderson.

“We can expect future river flows to be lower on average, and with greater variability year-to-year, as the glaciers retreat and disappear.”

Anderson says that B.C.’s glaciers are of vital importance, not only for the ecosystems that they sustain, but for hydropower.

“In summer, glaciers melt and release water into river systems across B.C. This glacier runoff is key across a variety of sectors, from hydropower, to municipal water supplies, to agriculture,” he says.

“Glacier meltwater is cold, ensuring that glacially-fed streams maintain relatively moderate temperatures even in the hottest times of the year, and this temperature regulation supports the wide variety of ecosystems and animals that call these rivers home.” 

AVAILABLE EXPERTS

GWENN FLOWERS, professor, Department of Earth Sciences
samuel_smith@sfu.ca 

SAM ANDERSON, post-doctoral research fellow, School of Environmental Science
anderson.sam.lucas@gmail.com