Since 1948, Wheaton Glacier has shrunk by 41%, with accelerated retreat over the past 40 years. This report from the Government of Yukon documents the glacier's changes, links them to regional climate warming, and analyzes resulting sediment delivery impacts in the watershed. The dataset was last updated on April 17, 2026.
Use Cases
- Model glacier retreat projections based on documented 41% area loss since 1948.
- Analyze sediment transport dynamics based on descriptions of debris flows and channel shifts.
- Study climate-glacier relationships based on reported temperature increase and snowfall changes.
- Assess watershed geomorphic change based on evidence of sedimentation pulses and fan aggradation.
Strengths
- Provides a specific, quantified measure of glacier change: 41% area loss since 1948.
- Includes a temporal analysis of acceleration over the past 40 years.
- Links physical changes to specific climatic drivers like temperature increase.
- Describes downstream geomorphic effects like sediment pulses and debris flows.
Limitations
- Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
- Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
- Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to a single watershed study.
Provenance
- Source
- Government of Yukon
- Collection Method
- Research study involving photographic comparison, climate analysis, and sediment core/ground-penetrating radar surveys.
- Time Range
- Century-scale, with specific focus from 1948 to present.
- Freshness
- Last updated 2026-04-17 15:45:29.750568; freshness should be verified.
- Geography
- Wheaton River watershed, Yukon Territory, Canada.