The Rocky Mountains attract hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. Most are tourists, drawn by the spectacular beauty of alpine glaciers and icefields, but others are federal government scientists who have come to investigate the links between glaciers, climate and Canada's water resources.
Glaciers are an important part of the Canadian landscape.
Canada s surface terrain has been defined by a million years of glacier and ice-sheet fluctuations, and today only Antarctica and Greenland have more glacier ice. Glaciers have much to tell us about past and present environmental conditions. This information about past climates helps researchers understand variations in today s climate, and predict the effects of changes in the future. In certain parts of the country, glaciers play a key role in supplying communities with water for irrigation, drinking, and hydro-electric power. The runoff they provide is essential also for maintaining river and riparian habitat.