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Climate Walk
Tue Dec 09, 2003
Listen in RealAudio 
Hi, I'm Bryan Yeaton for The Weather Notebook. Today, Bob Henson takes us to a place in the
Canadian Rockies where you can follow the trail of Climate Change.
The Columbia Icefield is one of the few drive-in glaciers on Earth. You can park your car,
walk a half-mile uphill, and set foot on ice.
Each year half a million people hike up this icefield in Canada's Jasper National Park. While
they're going up, the meltwater comes down.
Scientists call this place the hydrologic roof of North America. It's the only spot on the
planet that sends water into the Arctic, Atlantic, and Pacific. The problem is, too much
water's flowing away and not enough snow is replacing it. This year, the region saw one of
its hottest, driest summers on record. Lisa Paulsen, on the park staff, has a ringside seat
on the glacier's ever-changing flow.
LP: It's such a dynamic place. Yeah, it changes daily, and certainly every season it's
dramatically different.
Since 1850 this glacier has receded nearly a mile. Each summer the park staff installs a fence
in the ice to guide people away from dangerous crevasses. But keeping the fenceposts in place
was a challenge this year, as temperatures hit 30 Celsius. That's 86 Fahrenheit.
LP: In the heat of the summer, when were having those plus 30-degree days, the glacier depth
would melt about 10 to 15 centimeters a day. So in two days the entire fence would be
down.
The Park is planning on replacing this fence with markers that stay in place as the ice melts.
Later this century, experts think the glacier will have receded into a flat spot. By then,
instead of leading you to ice, the trail will take you to . . . a newly formed lake.
Thanks to Bob Henson for today's show. We are funded by Subaru and The National Science
Foundation.
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