​This weekend brings together three closely connected moments: International Glacier Day, World Water Day, and the start of the UN Decade of Action for Cryospheric Sciences. Together, they highlight a simple reality in mountain regions: ice, water, and climate are tightly linked and changing quickly.
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Glaciers support water resources, shape access in mountain terrain, and are part of the culture and identity of many regions. They are also rapidly retreating in ways that are easy to grasp. We can look at photographs from 20, 10, or even just a few years ago and see how much alpine landscapes have changed as glaciers recede to higher elevations. Recent global studies show that nearly all glaciers on Earth have changed over the past decades (Dussaillant et al., 2024), with accelerating losses in recent years (Menounos et al., 2025, Hugonnet et al., 2021). This change can be measured and tracked, showing how quickly conditions are shifting as temperatures rise.

One of the key consequences of this change is how it affects water downstream, in ways that are far less visible than glacier retreat itself. As glaciers shrink, the storage, timing, and pathways of water through mountain systems are shifting. This is changing when water is available, how much is available, and increasing pressure during low-flow periods. The close succession of Glacier Day and World Water Day reflects this fundamental connection.

In response to these changes, the UN Decade of Action for Cryospheric Sciences (2025–2034) has been launched as a global initiative to advance research and support informed action. It calls on scientists, governments, and communities to work together to better understand the cryosphere and to safeguard the billions of people who depend on it.
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At the Mountain Ice and Water Lab, we work to better understand how these changes are reshaping mountain water systems. Over the coming years, we’ll continue building the knowledge needed to make sense of a rapidly changing water cycle. This includes starting new projects in the Canadian Rockies to investigate these linkages, continuing and building new collaborations, training and recruiting students, expanding fieldwork, and using hydrological modelling to better understand ongoing changes, while ensuring our work helps address some of the most pressing water challenges facing society. We’re looking forward to the work ahead and to sharing what we learn along the way.
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We’re excited to share that we are recruiting an MSc student to work on snowmelt–groundwater dynamics in mountain headwaters, starting May or September 2026.
The project will combine field instrumentation in the Castle region (Southern Alberta) with hydrological modelling to understand how snowmelt contributes to groundwater recharge and seasonal water availability under a changing climate. This is a great opportunity for a student interested in mountain hydrology, cryosphere processes, and climate impacts, with opportunities for both fieldwork and modelling development.

Key details

• Start date: May 2026 (preferred) or September 2026
• Duration: 2 years (MSc)
• Funding: $16,000 per year, plus potential scholarship and TA support
• Ideal applicant: background in hydrology, geoscience, environmental science, physical geography, or similar; enthusiasm for field and modelling work

See poster below and here for more details. 

We are pleased to announce a fully funded PhD position starting September 2026 at the Mountain Ice & Water Lab (University of Lethbridge), focusing on groundwater dynamics in the proglacial zone of Peyto Glacier.

This project investigates how meltwater from snow and glacial ice infiltrates evolving proglacial landscapes and contributes to groundwater storage and streamflow. The work combines field monitoring in glacier forefields with process-based hydrological and 3D groundwater modelling, offering a unique opportunity to study emerging hydrological systems in newly deglaciated terrain.
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Position Highlights

• Start date: September 2026
• Duration: 4 years (PhD)
• Funding: $18,000 per year (+ potential scholarships and teaching assistantships)
• Research focus: Meltwater–groundwater interactions, proglacial hydrology, climate-driven water storage
• Methods: Field instrumentation (piezometers, pressure sensors), data analysis, energy-balance modelling, groundwater simulation

Full project description and application instructions are available in the poster below and here
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Informal enquiries and early expressions of interest are encouraged by mid-January 2026.
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If you're interested in mountain hydrology, subsurface processes, or cryosphere–climate interactions and excited to join a collaborative research team,  we’d love to hear from you.