Metro Vancouver's last remaining glacier is disappearing fast

Metro Vancouver's last surviving glacier, a source of local fresh water, will disappear in less than 30 years, scientists say.

Scientists say climate change is accelerating the demise of the Coquitlam Glacier. The ice pack, located 40 kilometres north of Vancouver, sits on a mountain more than 1,400 metres high.

During the warmer months, runoff from what's left of the glacier provides about two percent of the water in the Coquitlam Reservoir. Although not a significant source of water, for scientists surveying its decline, the glacier's disappearing act is a symptom of the stress climate change is putting on local sources of fresh water.

"It's one of our best climate indicators of change, and I don't expect it to last past 2050,"  said Dave Dunkley, a geoscientist with Metro Vancouver.

The Coquitlam Glacier is the last of the glaciers that formed in the Metro Vancouver area during the Little Ice Age, a period of regional cooling in Europe and North America that began in the 1300s and lasted until about 1850.

According to Dunkley, it has been the only glacier in the region for about 100 years. He estimates there were once about six to 10 smaller glaciers in the region during the ice age.

Dunkley says the position of the Coquitlam Glacier protected it from disappearing like the other glaciers that formed during that period. It has two pockets — a sheet of ice sloped over the mountaintop and the lower glacier nestled in a bowl of rock. Over the years, the rock formations shading the ice bowl have provided relative protection against fierce sunlight.

Peter Marshall, a field hydrologist with Metro Vancouver, is measuring the glacier's retreat. He says even though its contribution to the reservoir is not substantial, it is a harbinger of the water-planning challenges the region may face in the future.

"This is our last remaining glacier in Metro Vancouver's water supply areas, and it's disappearing quickly. Once it's gone, we rely strictly on precipitation and runoff from snowmelt," said Marshall. 

Metro Vancouver announced this month that water levels in the region's reservoirs are lower than usual as summer conditions extend well into October. The region says the low water levels are the result of a lack of precipitation since Aug.1, combined with a 20 per cent increase in water use during a warmer fall season. 

Marshall says the glacier's decline also affects water levels in creeks and rivers, impacting fish and wildlife. 

"Water running off from the glacier is the water we're seeing in a lot of our dry creeks and rivers. Without these glaciers, some creeks might run dry in periods of weather like this."

WATCH | Metro Vancouver scientists show how the glacier is retreating:

Dunkley has been photo-documenting the ice pack for more than 15 years and says it's shrunk considerably right before his eyes.