The Waputik Icefield, near the Icefields Parkway, north of Banff, Alberta straddles the continental divide. The Waputik outlet “Liiliput” Glacier is a 3 kilometer long outlet draining east into Hector Lake and the Bow River. This glacier drains the north side of Lilliput Mountain, and is just southeast of Balfour Glacier, which it merged with in the late 19th century. That is why the glacier lacks a proper name, it was part of the Balfour Glacier when named. The Lilliput Glacier has retreated 2.3 km from its maximum. The Balfour Glacier with which it was joined retreated at a rate of 10 meters per year at the end of the 19th century and 40 meters per year up to 1945, by 1945 the glaciers had separated (Ommaney, 2000). From 1945 to 1970 limited retreat occurred on either Lilliput or Balfour Glacier.
This Lilliput Glacier is now continuing to retreat, 320 meters since the 1970 picture of the glacier was taken. In 1970 the glacier still has a single terminus in the valley and ended a short distance above a steep bedrock slope. 
By 1994 the glacier has developed two termini and has retreated 200 m from the 1970 position. The 2002 terminus in this Google Earth image has retreated an additional 100-200 meters depending on location along the front. A closeup of the terminus area indicates limited crevassing, indicating limited movement and continued retreat. The supraglacial stream (winding stream channel on glacier surface) that is visible has downcut a considerable channel, this too indicates limited movement. An active glacier terminus would closeup such a channel seasonally as movement continued and meltwater flow ceased. 
The glacier in 2002 still has an accumulation zone at the head of the glacier. For a glacier like this to be in equilibrium it needs at least 50% of its area to be snowcovered at the end of the summer, this percentage is the accumulation area ratio. In the image below the lines are annual accumulation horizons exposed in the glacier ice. This indicates a region of the glacier that is consistently exposed to ablation today. Only 40% of the glacier is snowcovered above this point. This indicates how little of the glacier is a consistent accumulation zone today. Without a consistent accumulation zone the glacier cannot survive.
Waputik Icefield Outlet Glacier retreat, Alberta Canada
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Kayak Helmets said
Based on the past century and the data you have compiled for this glacier. How long are you thinking this glacier will survive before it is wiped out completely? I have been learning an a lot from your blog over the past few weeks and I am really enjoying your writing.
mspelto said
With current climate it is not evident that this glacier would disappear since it does have a small but persistent accumulation zone. However, even limited further warming would eliminate it. This glacier is still 3 km long, and is not in danger of disappearing in the next 40 years without substantial further warming.
Helm Glacier Melting Away « From a Glaciers Perspective said
[...] December 19, 2009 at 8:48 pm · Filed under Glacier Observations ·Tagged british columbia glacier melting, British Columbia glacier retreat, global warming glacier retreat, helm glacier The Helm Glacier in the Coast Mountains of southwest British Columbia has been the focus of annual mass balance surveys since 1967. During the 1984-2008 period its mass balance losses have been the greatest of any of the 16 glaciers monitored in North America. The mass balance loss has been about 25 m of water equivalent, about 28 m of ice thickness lost. That is more than 30% of the glacier lost in just 25 years.The glacier had an area of 4.3 square kilometers in 1928. Today the area has declined by 78% to 0.92 square kilometers. In 1928 the glacier is not too distant from its Little Ice Age moraines. The trimlines of recently deglaciated terrain are clear. The glacier has two termini, one draining north and the other west. Today in the picture from Johannes Koch, there is a vast expanse of newly deglaciated terrain that as yet lacks significant vegetation. The western terminus is gone. Between 1977 and 1990, the west part of the glacier disintegrated into small cirque glaciers. Recession and melting of the Helm Glacier has been particularly rapid in the past decade. The thinning and retreat, has led to the main glacier separating from several small cirque glaciers that used to feed the glacier on its west side. The area of the main glacier has declined by 50% since 1996. More alarming has been the tendency of the glacier to lose its snowcover almost entirely as has occurred each year from 2002-2006. The accumulation area ratio AAR reported to the World Glacier Monitoring Service was 0 % from 2002-2006. To be in equilibrium a glacier typically needs 50 % of its area to be snowcovered at the end of summer. Without an accumulation zone the glacier cannot survive. the glacier has retreated 1100 meters in the last century. In the last 50 years the retreat rate has been 15 meters per year. The retreat has exposed trees overrun by the advance of the Helm Glacier. There are some younger trees dating from the 12th to the 16th century overrun by the glacier advance. The sixteenth century wood location is fairly close to its Little Ice Age maximum, Koch and others, 2007. The locations of the wood samples are mainly arrayed around the cinder cone exposed by retreat between 1940 and 1980. Older trees discovered in 2006 and 2007 by more recent retreat were killed 6400 years ago, trees dated We have gone from a glacier at its smallest extent in 1000 years, to its smallest extent in 7000 years and still retreating in the a short period. The map below from Koch and others (2009). The lack of a consistent accumulation zone in recent years suggests this glacier will not survive. A glacier must have a consistent and persistent accumulation zone to endure. Compare this to the slower but still notable changes on Bugaboo Glacier and Waputik Outlet Glacier [...]