Alberta glacier fragmenting – From a Glaciers Perspective

**Bonnet Glacier in Banff National Park in the 9-5-2025 Sentinel image has lost its snow cover in 2025. This is causing rapid expansion of bedrock amidst the glacier as the glacier thins (yellow arrow).**

The summer of 2025 featured extensive melt on Alberta glaciers in many cases removing all snow cover. A glacier that cannot retain snow cover is akin to a company have no income, only expenditures for the year. If this trend persists the glacier will not. This builds on a period of glacier loss in the region from 2011-2020 glacier loss accelerated by ~190% from the 1984-2010 period in this region (Bevington and Menounos, 2022). The 2021-2024 period was noted as a period of unprecedented ice loss in Western Canada (Menounos et al 2025). Haig Glacier has been a summer training ground for cross country skiers. This summer by mid-August snow cover was too limited to permit this use, which had happened in 2023 as well. The result in the images below of rapid melt is fragmentation, bedrock emerging amidst glacier and glacier area decline. Here we examine a series of glaciers within 100 km of Banff, Alberta in Sentinel images from September 2025.

**Haig Glacier on 9-2-2025. This glacier in Peter Lougheed Provinicial Park has only a sliver of snowcover at the very top of the glacier.**

**Petain Glacier in Height of the Rockies Provincial Park has a fringe of snow cover left at the top of the glacier in mid-September. The thinning glacier has bedrock emerging amidst the glacier.**

**Icefall Mountain Glacier on 9-5-2025 has lost all snow cover. This glacier in Siffleur Wilderness Area features expanded bedrock areas amidst the glacier** (yellow arrows).

**Trifid Glacier in Banff National Park lost its snowcover and is continuing to fragment in this false color Sentinel image.**

**Drummond Glacier in Banff National Park in early September 2025 has lost 96% of its snow cover this is leading to fragmentation of the glacier.**

Willingdon Glacier in Siffleur Wilderness Area lost all but a sliver of snow cover in 2025. The rapid thinning bare glacier ice is leading to fragmentation at yellow arrow.