Ледник Берг в парке Монт-Робсон отделился от озера, став ярким индикатором климатических изменений

Mount Robson's Berg Glacier hits unfortunate record Glacier leaves the lake The glacier responsible for sending icebergs into one of Mount Robson Provincial Park’s best-known lakes no longer reaches the water. Dr. Joseph Shea, an associate professor of geography at the University of Northern British Columbia, confirmed the separation after observing Berg Glacier while leaving a field project in the park this summer. “Someone noticed last summer that it had stopped terminating in the lake,” Shea said. “When we were flying out of our fieldwork this summer, I saw that there’s no more connection now between the glacier and the lake.” The separation means Berg Glacier is no longer calving—or breaking off—icebergs directly into Berg Lake. “I think this fits into the broader picture of glacier declines that we are seeing across the region, and it’s a really vivid indicator of climate change,” Shea wrote in a follow-up email. He does not expect the change to produce a dramatic decline in the lake’s water level because snow and ice continue melting at higher elevations and feeding the watershed. Its appearance, however, may change substantially. “Probably no more—or very few—bergs will dot Berg Lake going forward,” Shea said. Berg Glacier is a hanging glacier on the north face of Mount Robson. Until recently, its lower edge terminated directly in Berg Lake, allowing pieces of ice to break free and float across the water. Glaciers form when layers of accumulated snow are compressed into dense ice over many years. That ice then moves slowly downhill. Mount Robson’s elevation produces heavy snowfall, while its northern slopes receive less direct sunlight, allowing snow and ice to remain longer. Shea emphasized that Berg Glacier should not be confused with Robson Glacier, which lies farther around the mountain. “The Robson Glacier is actually around the backside,” he said. “It comes down from the other side of the mountain.” Robson Glacier currently terminates in an unnamed lake beyond Berg Lake that formed as the glacier retreated during recent decades. It still contains icebergs calved from the glacier, but Shea said that connection is also unlikely to last indefinitely. “It’s only going to be a limited time until that glacier also retreats back and is no longer in the lake,” he said. Historic photographs provide a longer record of the changes around Mount Robson. One of the earliest known photographs of Robson Glacier was taken in 1911 by Arthur O. Wheeler, founding president of the Alpine Club of Canada. Researchers with the Mountain Legacy Project returned in 2011 and photographed the landscape from approximately the same position. The comparison showed considerably more exposed rock and debris and a glacier that had retreated substantially during the intervening century. A recent article published through the Alpine Club of Canada’s State of the Mountains project estimated that Robson Glacier has been receding by nearly 50 metres annually. The retreat of the glacier matters beyond the changing appearance of the landscape. Glaciers and mountain snowpacks store water during colder periods and release it into rivers and streams during warmer months. That meltwater helps sustain downstream flows during dry periods and keeps waterways cold enough to support fish and other organisms. Berg Lake and the surrounding glaciers are part of the upper Fraser River watershed. The Fraser travels more than 1,300 kilometres across British Columbia before reaching the Strait of Georgia, making changes near Mount Robson part of a much larger downstream story. The risks associated with changing mountain conditions became particularly apparent in 2021. During the late-June heat dome, temperatures near Berg Lake reached the high 30s, accelerating snow and ice melt and causing the Robson River to overflow its banks. A July 1 storm then dropped more than 200 millimetres of rain within several hours, dramatically increasing water levels. BC Parks closed the Berg Lake Trail and helped approximately 250 hikers leave the backcountry, including more than 50 who were evacuated by helicopter. Floodwater damaged bridges, campsites and long sections of trail while shifting the river into new channels. Following a four-year reconstruction that included relocated sections and more resilient infrastructure, the entire trail reopened June 26, 2025. Two new snow observatories installed in Mount Robson Provincial Park could eventually give BC Parks earlier warning of similar events. The project is a partnership involving BC Parks, UNBC, the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the B.C. Knowledge Development Fund. One station is located near Whitehorn at an elevation of almost 1,200 metres, while the second is near Robson Pass at slightly less than 1,700 metres. The stations collect real-time information about temperature, humidity, wind speed, atmospheric pressure and precipitation. They also measure the depth and weight of the snowpack, allowing researchers to estimate how much water it contains. “If we’re interested in water resources, we want to know how much water is stored in the snowpack,” Shea said. “The best way to do that is to measure the weight.” The observatories also measure the energy reaching and leaving the snowpack, helping scientists understand the physical processes driving snowmelt instead of relying only on air temperature. Information from the stations is transmitted by satellite and is already available to BC Parks. Researchers are testing the equipment with the eventual goal of developing an alert system that could notify park managers when extreme precipitation occurs. The project team also hopes to establish a public dashboard allowing residents, hikers and other interested people to view the information. “There is a lot of research going on in the parks, and BC Parks has been really supportive of this,” Shea said. “We’re learning more about the snowpacks and the glaciers.” Berg Lake will remain, and meltwater will continue flowing from the mountain. What may disappear is one of the features for which the lake has long been known: pieces of glacial ice floating across its surface. More BC News