Selwyn Mountain Range’s Ice Loss Three Times Global Average

By on August 31, 2015
Canada's Cirque of the Unclimbables along the border of the Yukon and Northwest Territories. (Credit: Ed Struzik)

Canada's Cirque of the Unclimbables along the border of the Yukon and Northwest Territories. (Credit: Ed Struzik)


Canadian scientists studying in the Selwyn Mountain range are encountering an intense retreat of glaciers, according to Yale Environment 360. The ice losses they’re seeing are some of the most extreme ever recorded there. Results of the work may be useful in determining what the future holds for the western portion of the Arctic reaching into North America.

From 1982 to 2008, scientists studying in the region charted a 30 percent decrease in icefields in the so-called “Cirque of the Unclimbables” part of the mountain range. But using more modern measurement methods available today, incorporating hydrological data and readings from onsite weather stations, they have found that the ice losses have accelerated since then.

Though melting glaciers might not be the most surprising news in a world with climbing temperature averages, scientists studying in the area note that it holds the last extensive icefield remaining within Canada’s Northwest Territories. Their estimates put its losses at three times the global average for glacier loss around the world.

Top image: Canada’s Cirque of the Unclimbables along the border of the Yukon and Northwest Territories. (Credit: Ed Struzik)

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