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2 more glaciers gone from Glacier National Park

2010-04-09 09:13 BJT

BEIJING, April 8 (Xinhuanet) -- Scientists say Glacier National Park has lost two more of its glaciers to climate change.

In addition they say many others may disappear before the end of the decade.

Researcher Dan Fagre said Wednesday that warmer temperatures have reduced the number of named glaciers in the northwestern Montana park to 25.

"When we're measuring glacier margins, by the time we go home the glacier is already smaller than what we've measured," Fagre, an ecologist with the US Geological Survey, said.

Glacier National Park is located in the U.S. state of Montana, bordering the Canadian provinces of Alberta and British Columbia.

The park's glaciers once numbered as many as 150 but have been slowly melting away since about 1850.

The latest two to fall below the 10 hectare threshold, the minimum size required for the glacier to have a name, were Miche Wabun and Shepard. Each had shrunk by roughly 55 percent since the mid-1960s.

The largest remaining glacier in the park is Harrison Glacier, at about 188 hectares.

Editor: Zheng Limin | Source: Xinhua