Wapta Icefield/Peyto Glacier

Section 1: Observatory Metadata

Name

Wapta Icefield/Peyto Glacier

Location

51.66929708, -116.5532644

ID #

Basin

Nelson - Saskatchewan River Basin

Additional Information (notes, web addresses, etc.)

Lead Investigator: Scott Munro

Peyto Creek drains a 24 km² basin in Banff National Park, forming part of the headwaters of the North Saskatchewan River, to which it connects through the Mistaya River. It is 60% covered by the Peyto Glacier which has been the subject of intensive mass balance, energy balance and runoff observations since the basin’s adoption as an International Hydrological Decade (IHD) research site in 1965. The basin has an automatic weather station adjacent to the glacier, a glacier mass balance field programme that is part of the National Glaciology Programme of NRCan and a streamflow gauge. Among the data assets are hourly measurements of solar radiation, air temperature, humidity, wind speed and precipitation, winter and summer mass balance measurements, streamflow records and glacier surface meteorology records.