Slims River

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Slims River
A'ay Chu
The valley of the Slims River in the background; in the foreground the glacial lake of the Kaskawulsh glacier

The valley of the Slims River in the background; in the foreground the glacial lake of the Kaskawulsh glacier

Data
location Yukon Territory , Canada
River system Yukon River
Drain over Kluane River  → Donjek River  → White River  → Yukon River  → Bering Sea
source Kaskawulsh Glacier
60 ° 49 ′ 49 ″  N , 138 ° 34 ′ 32 ″  W
Source height 873  m
muzzle in the Kluane Lake coordinates: 61 ° 0 ′ 40 "  N , 138 ° 29 ′ 30"  W 61 ° 0 ′ 40 "  N , 138 ° 29 ′ 30"  W
Mouth height 748  m
Height difference 125 m
Bottom slope 4.8 ‰
length 25.8 km
The former confluence of the Slims River with Kluane Lake

The former confluence of the Slims River with Kluane Lake

The Slims River (A'ay Chu) was a glacier-fed river in the Canadian Yukon Territory . Until 2016, the river originated in the Kaskawulsh Glacier , was 320 to 640 m wide and flowed 15 miles to the north in Kluane Lake . From there it flowed into the Bering Sea .

In the spring of 2016, the flow of water on the Kaskawulsh Glacier changed over the course of four days (May 26-29). The constant thawing caused by the warmer climate made the glacier brittle and a crevice opened in the ice. Since then, the water has stopped flowing through the river into Kluane Lake and the level of the lake has dropped. The water now flows completely into the Kaskawulsh River , which increased extremely as a result. From there it flows on into the Alsek River and then into the Gulf of Alaska . Researchers attribute this to global warming . This is the first time that a river course change caused by climate change has been recognized as such by humans. The diversion was made possible by the geological peculiarity that the glacier tongue is located on a watershed .

The Slims River was named after a pack horse that fell into the river in the 1903 Kluane gold rush. The Alaska Highway crosses the mouth of the river and the lake at mile 1065.

Web links

Commons : Slims River  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Measured in Google Earth Pro
  2. ^ Kaskawulsh Glacier - Canadian Glacier Inventory Project . cgip.wikifoundry.com. Retrieved January 17, 2016.
  3. ↑ Retreating Yukon glacier makes river disappear (English) . In: CBC News . 
  4. ^ Slims River, Kluane National Park - Map Portfolio - Brodie Elder . bemaps.wordpress.com. Retrieved January 17, 2016.
  5. ^ Daniel H. Shugar, John J. Clague, James L. Best, Christian Schoof, Michael J. Willis, Luke Copland, Gerard H. Roe: River piracy and drainage basin reorganization led by climate-driven glacier retreat . In: Nature Geoscience . tape 10 , no. 5 , May 17, 2017, p. 370-375 , doi : 10.1038 / ngeo2932 .
  6. ^ Philipp Nagels: River piracy! A whole river disappeared in Canada - in 4 days . In: The world . April 20, 2017 ( welt.de [accessed September 28, 2017]).
  7. ↑ Canada: Climate change redirects river . In: Der Spiegel Online . April 18, 2017 ( spiegel.de [accessed September 28, 2017]).
  8. ↑ a b Climate change steals river . In: klimaretter.info . April 18, 2017 ( klimaretter.info [accessed May 9, 2018]).
  9. ↑ Hannah Devlin: Receding glacier causes immense Canadian river to vanish in four days. In: The Guardian. 17th April 2017.
  10. ↑ Chris Mooney: For the first time on record, human-caused climate change has rerouted an entire river . In: Chicago Tribune . April 17, 2017 (English, chicagotribune.com ).
  11. ^ The Slims River Bridge, Alaska Highway . explorenorth.com. Retrieved January 17, 2016.