The Big Melt: Glaciers In Canada Expected To Shrink

Global warming may be on track to almost completely wipe out certain glaciers in Canada by the end of the century, according to new research on climate trends in the western region of the country.

"In two out of the three regions that were studied, the decline could be...over 90 percent by 2100," the Guardian reported.

It appears even more certain that, over the same period, "the glaciers of Alberta and British Columbia are set to shrink by 75% in area compared to 2005 levels, and by 70% in volume, according to their predictions," the report said.

The study, published this month in the journal Nature Geoscience, focused on "one of the most picturesque mountain regions" in the world, the Guardian said.

"According to our simulations, few glaciers will remain in the Interior and Rockies regions, but maritime glaciers, in particular those in northwestern British Columbia, will survive in a diminished state. We project the maximum rate of ice volume loss, corresponding to peak input of deglacial meltwater to streams and rivers, to occur around 2020–2040," the study said.

The disappearance of the glaciers represents a major loss, according to Garry Clarke, the lead author of the study. "Potential implications include impacts on aquatic ecosystems, agriculture, forestry, alpine tourism and water quality," the study said.

Clarke described the melt as something of an omen of climate patterns to come. "Over the next century there's going to be a huge loss. The glaciers are telling us that we're changing the climate," he said, per NBC News.

The analytical approach used in the study may be useful in future research, the New York Times reported.

The report "combines scientific disciplines to develop an unusually powerful method of predicting glacier loss, including high-resolution regional models of current glaciers and the physics of ice flow. The researchers then applied their findings to the range of predictions of warming over time from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change," the newspaper said.