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Three glaciers in British Columbia\u2019s southwest could \u201cdisappear completely\u201d within decades in what a researcher says is the result of years of inaction on climate change.<\/span><\/p>\n A new study from Simon Fraser University published in the journal Annals of Glaciology says the Whistler Glacier is in the most dire condition and could disappear within the next 10 years.<\/span><\/p>\n That glacier has shrunk by 95 per cent in the last five decades, while the Horstman and Blackcomb glaciers have lost up to 75 per cent of their area over the same period and will melt down between three and seven decades.<\/span><\/p>\n Lead researcher Chlo\u00e9 Monty says glaciers have been retreating globally due to climate change, but it was still shocking to see the extent of the shrinkage seen in the three B.C. glaciers based on image comparisons.<\/span><\/p>\n She says there\u2019s nothing that can be done to save those glaciers from extinction but it\u2019s not too late to prevent the larger glaciers in B.C. and Canada from disappearing.<\/span><\/p>\n Monty says a reduction in carbon emissions would prevent the larger glaciers from shrinking in Canada and around the world.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cGlaciers respond slowly to climate, so the changes that we\u2019re seeing now are reflecting the changes to the climate that have happened in the last several decades,\u201d Monty says.<\/span><\/p>\n Glaciers are measured by coverage area to determine if they still meet thresholds to continue to qualify as a glacier, and the SFU research shows the Whistler Glacier has already shrunk to the point that it fractured into three smaller ice masses.<\/span><\/p>\n Once glaciers fall below the thresholds they could instead be classified as \u201cice patches,\u201d although experts are still debating the terminology used to describe former glaciers.<\/span><\/p>\n Monty says that, by some definitions, Whistler Glacier has already disappeared.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cTechnically Whistler Glacier is a relict glacier,\u201d she says. \u201cHas it disappeared? That depends on your definition.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe question is really, when will it get to zero ice?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Glaciers have been popular summer skiing locations and both the Whistler and Horstman glaciers have hosted summer ski camps in the past.<\/span><\/p>\n Whistler Blackcomb ski resort suspended summer skiing indefinitely on the Horstman Glacier last year after beginning in the 1980s, while summer skiing activities stopped on Whistler Glacier in the late 1990s.<\/span><\/p>\n Monty says resorts are doing the right thing for business by developing other summer activities such as mountain biking to compensate for the loss of skiing and the tourism industry needs to adapt too.<\/span><\/p>\n The larger challenge \u2014 taking steps to mitigate climate change to preventing larger losses \u2014 is still something that can be tackled, and Monty says the study on the B.C. glaciers should provide a warning of what could happen if no steps are taken.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThis is definitely a very sad story,\u201d she says. \u201cBut it doesn\u2019t mean that there aren\u2019t things that we can do to reduce our carbon emissions now that would help prevent the loss of bigger glaciers and the losses also to the ice sheets that would contribute probably more significantly to sea level rise.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Three glaciers in British Columbia\u2019s southwest could \u201cdisappear completely\u201d within decades in what a researcher says is the result of years of inaction on climate change. A new study from Simon Fraser University published in the journal Annals of Glaciology says the Whistler Glacier is in the most dire condition and could disappear within the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":71161,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[195],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-195"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/upndownbeirut.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/upndownbeirut.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/upndownbeirut.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upndownbeirut.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upndownbeirut.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=71160"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/upndownbeirut.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71160\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71202,"href":"https:\/\/upndownbeirut.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71160\/revisions\/71202"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upndownbeirut.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/71161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/upndownbeirut.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=71160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upndownbeirut.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=71160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upndownbeirut.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=71160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n