Summer heat made a huge 'snow swamp' on a Yukon glacier

A heat wave earlier this summer caused some major melting of a glacierin Yukon, and one glaciologist says that could have repercussions for waterways and wildlife.

In late July, MauriPelto was looking at satellite images of the Lowell GlacierinKluaneNational Park when he spotted an enormous"snow swamp" formed when meltwater mixes with snow to form a pool of slush on top of the glacier.

Once that snow and ice melts, and runs off, it's not coming back.- Mauri Pelto, researcher with World Glacier Monitoring Service

Pelto, a researcherwith the World Glacier Monitoring Service based in the U.S., routinely studiesglaciers in Western Canada.

He said the swamp was about 45 square kilometres in size, and itformed over just a few days.

"My first thought was, 'that's a huge snow swamp,'" he said.

"I've seen them before and I've encountered them on a glacier, but to see this large an area form so quickly I've never seen that before."

Two satellite images tell the tale an image from July 22 shows the particulararea of the glacierfrozen.The other image, just four days later, shows a large part of the same area covered with mostly water.

According to Environment Canada, a community near the glacier, HainesJunction, Yukon, reached 29.3 C on July 22. That was the hottest July 22 on record for the area.

The following few days all saw temperatures in the high 20s, as well.

Repercussions 'for a long time'

Pelto said within weeks, water from the Lowell Glacier's snow swamp flowed off the glacier into Lowell Lake. He saidthat massive melt will have repercussions for the glacier "for a long time."

"It's not like a lake, where hot weather would warm up the water and cold weather would cool it back down.Once that snow and ice melts, and runs off, it's not coming back," he said.

Peltosaid that means the Lowell Glacier has shrunk, and the impact will ultimatelybe seen in the streams fed by glacial meltwater.

"If your glacier shrinks, it's going to provide less water," he said.

"So, any of your late summeror fallruns of salmon on any of these streams that are glacier-fed as the glacier shrinks, it's going toprovide less meltwater runoff and it should be a challenge for the salmon."

With files from Sandi Coleman

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