I am a university researcher who studies the response of glaciers to climate change. I am passionate about satellites, imagery and ice.
Joined January 2015
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Brian retweeted
Chief Marylin Slett “Governments must step up to ensure that glaciers, which are sacred to so many of our peoples, are studied, protected, and respected as part of our shared responsibility to future generations.” ubcic.bc.ca/ubcic_recognizes… #bcpoli
ALT UBCIC logo in background Text reads: UBCIC Recognizes 2025 as the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation and Calls for Strengthened Action to Protect B.C.’s Rivers of Ice
Hello all -I'm opting to use @bmenounos.bsky.social from now on. Follow me if you want to learn what the @HakaiInstitute @UNBC Airborne Coastal Observatory is up to or our work on the cryosphere
Super cool to see Justine getting this award. Kudos to you @justine_hunter
WINNER ALERT! - Excellence in Environment Reporting
Presented by the Pacific Salmon Foundation
Congratulations to @justine_hunter of @globeandmail for “Trapped in Ice: A Glacial Reveal”
tgam.ca/3YynZuR
#WebsterAwards
And there it is. After waiting for 4 weeks of consistently bad weather we were able to finish our autumn ACO coastal surveys. Hard to believe that the icefield out yonder loses, on average, about 1Gt (1,000,000,000 m3) of water each year.
ALT Hakai operator Steve B. finishing up the survey of Klinaklini Glacier
2023 results coming in from @HakaiInstitute @UNBC ACO autumn surveys. Compare elevation change maps from this year [20240906 - 20230902] vs. [20230902 - 20220902] for Peyto/Yoho region. Year 2023, simply put, was BONKERS
Well folks. I'm sad to report that Helm Glacier is nearing the end of its life. Aerial photo of the glacier from 16 Sept, 2024. Mid section thinning is about to cut the glacier in half. It's tough not to feel like we are losing the fight against the climate crisis.
ALT Helm Glacier as seen from the Airborne Coastal Observatory, Sept, 2024
Brian retweeted
In 2023, a massive rockslide in East Greenland, driven by glacial melt, triggered a towering tsunami and a rare global seismic signal that resonated for nine days, according to a new Science study.
The findings provide insights into how #ClimateChange-induced events like glacial thinning can lead to significant geophysical phenomena with impacts extending throughout the Earth system. bit.ly/3Xr066I
Today, the ACO started our autumn collections over coastal glaciers. Mt. Garibaldi and glaciers that flank Spearhead Range. Not looking as ragged as last summer, but still a negative year.
ALT View of Mt. Garibaldi (background), Shatter, Shutter, Tremor, Trory glaciers (foreground) from ACO Window. S. Beffort, Hakai (photo credit).
Just starting to process our Autumn 2024 ACO lidar/ortho imagery. For Peyto Glacier, not much accumulation zone this year. Brightest snow from late Aug snowfall, darker zones this year's retained snow. Dark, shrinking firn not good for glacier health.
ALT head of Peyto Glacier seen from ACO on 6 Sept, 2024. S.
Day 2 of our autumn airborne surveys with the @HakaiInstitute @UNBC ACO. Another bad year for our glaciers. Can we please have a good one soon (pretty please with sugar and a cherry)?
ALT Yoho/Peyto ice surveys from the ACO (S. Beffort, Hakai Institute)
How can you tell it's end of summer? Well, if you look into the sky you might see the @HakaiInstitute @UNBC Airborne Coastal Observatory, doing our Sept LiDAR /hyperspectral surveys, here showing the terminus of Robson Glacier.
ALT Robson Glacier as seen from the Airborne Coastal Observatory (S. Beffort)
An hour ago: @NickOfTheVine operating @HakaiInstitute @UNBC ACO hyper/lidar systems acquiring our 8th acquisition of Place Glacier for 2024. Sadly, not much retained snow. Unlikely to be record year of loss but strongly negative year AGAIN.
Brian retweeted
In the wake of a massive landslide that threatens salmon populations, how do you map the treacherous, surging waters of the Fraser Canyon? With help from Fraser experts Rivertec & a host of partners, Nick Viner of @HakaiGeospatial found out tinyurl.com/55687fnz
Gosh, all this #chilcotinlandslide work make me forget to check on glaciers that we have monitored using the ACO since 2015. Here's Yoho (bottom)/Peyto (top) from 15 Aug, 2023 (L) and 11 Aug, 2024 (R). Will be another year of strong mass loss.
It's nice to see how nimble the ACO can be in terms of collecting perishable data that helps us understand the significance of the #ChilcotinLandslide . It's also an honour to provide data useful to the @tsilhqotin nations
chilcotin-river-landslide-20…
Morning folks - A few points about the #ChilcotinLandslide and monitoring efforts (thanks 2 Marten Geertsema, Dave Huntley and Adam Hawkins):
a) Monitoring event a fruitful collaboration among federal, provincial, govt, non-profit and private-sector scientists;
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ALT Chilcotin River landslide