Wind sweeps clouds of dust over Kluane Lake from the A’ay Chu (Slims River Valley), dried since 2016 glacial meltwater diversion, seen from Tachal Dahl (Sheep Mountain) Ridge, St. Elias Mountains, Yukon, Canada. Hike Sheep Creek trail (10-15 km with 500-1200 m gain or 1700-4000 ft) for spectacular views of the Slims River Valley and surrounding St. Elias Mountains, plus Kluane Lake seen from Soldier’s Summit on Tachal Dahl (Sheep Mountain) Ridge. In a startling case of climate change, over 4 days in spring 2016, the Slims River suddenly disappeared, leaving windswept mud flats creating clouds of dust in the formerly clear air. With its main water supply diminished to a trickle, Kluane Lake may be isolated within a few years, shrinking below its outflow into the Kluane River (which flows into the Donjek River, White River, Yukon River, and eventually the Bering Sea). Kluane Lake chemistry and fish populations are rapidly changing. For the last 300 years, abundant meltwater from the Kaskawulsh Glacier has been channeled by ice dam to drain via the 150-meter wide Slims River, north into Kluane Lake. Between 1956 and 2007, the Kaskawulsh glacier retreated by 655m, which most scientists attribute to anthropogenic climate change. Meltwater flooding from accelerating retreat in 2016 carved a new channel through a large ice field, diverting most flows to the Kaskawulsh River, a tributary of the Alsek, which flows into the Gulf of Alaska. Read more at: https://projects.thestar.com/climate-change-canada/yukon/. This image was stitched from multiple overlapping photos captured in June 2019 by Tom Dempsey / PhotoSeek.com.