Receding glaciers causing rivers to suddenly disappear
Global phenomenon known as river piracy demands urgent adaptation from ecosystems and people who rely on their flow
Jenna Kunze
Mon 3 May 2021 05.10 EDT
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As glaciers around the world recede rapidly owing to global warming, some communities are facing a new problem: the sudden disappearance of their rivers.
River piracy, or stream capture, is when water from one river is diverted into another because of erosion or, in this case, glacier melt.
Scientists predict as we move towards a world with far fewer glaciers, land that has been continuously covered by ice for many centuries will become ice-free, thus redirecting rivers in high mountain areas.
In most instances, the redirection will be inconsequential. But in some areas with various user groups that rely on the river’s flow, the changes might have a more significant impact.
“Glaciers by and large around the world are retreating,” said Dan Shugar, a geoscientist at the University of Calgary. “That enhanced retreat that we’re seeing now, we know unequivocally, that is due to climate change.”
Shugar was a lead scientist who documented the first known case of river piracy in modern times in 2016 in Canada’s Yukon Territory. Then, Canada’s largest glacier melted so quickly it diverted a large river, and thus significantly reduced the water level of a lake it fed.
More:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/may/03/receding-glaciers-causing-rivers-to-suddenly-disappear