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Riled Up is a journal of science, the environment, exploration, new technology, and related commentary.  Contributors include scientists, explorers, engineers, and others who provide perspectives and context not typically offered in general news circulation.  For interested readers, additional resources are included.

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Once Bishop Glacier...Now Bishop Lake

Once Bishop Glacier...Now Bishop Lake

 

Retreating Ice, Bishop Glacier, BC 1985-2017 (credit: Landsat and the AGU)

 

British Columbia's Bishop Glacier is turning into a lake having lost nearly 2 miles of its ice due to melting. According to the American Geophysical Union (the AGU), a rapidly expanding 'Bishop' lake has emerged where ice had once been.

Evaluating 32 years of Landsat remote sensing imagery and re-photography of Bishop Glacier shows its past and current status as well as the surrounding regional ice-fields. Red arrows represent the glacier's terminus in 1985; yellow its 2017 situation; while purple dots designate the snow lines of three related glaciers, Bishop (B), Ring (R), and Lillooet (L). Landsat is co-managed by NASA and the US Geological Survey (USGS). The geologic mapping service said:

"In 2017 the Bishop Glacier 'proto-lake' is ~2.5 miles long with a glacier retreat of nearly 10,000 feet (nearly 2 miles) in 32 years. Ring Glacier has retreated 2600 feet from Bishop Glacier. The lake is relatively free of icebergs in 2017, suggesting a reduced calving rate in recent years."

Also, clearly visible, is the advance in growth of shrub and forest vegetation (green) on the newly exposed landscapes once covered in ice. A perspective on Canada's glaciers, particularly in British Columbia, experiencing rapid decline from climate change, is provided in this video report. WHB

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