Kluane Lake
Kluane Lake is located in the southwest area of Yukon. It is the largest lake contained entirely within Yukon with an area of approximately, and a length of.
Kluane Lake is located approximately northwest of Haines Junction. The Alaska Highway follows most of the south side of Kluane Lake and offers lake views. The lake has a mean depth of and a maximum depth of.
It is situated within both the Kluane First Nation and White River First Nation territories and the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations nearby.
Climate change
Until 2016, Kluane Lake was fed by the A'ay Chu, which was composed of meltwater from the Kaskawulsh Glacier, located within Kluane National Park and Reserve. Kluane Lake drains into the Kluane River, whose waters flow into the Donjek River, White River, Yukon River, and eventually the Bering Sea. The lake has a high density of large-bodied lake trout and whitefish, but both commercial and recreational fish have decreased over the years.In a case of climate change, over a period of four days in May 2016, the Slims River suddenly disappeared, leaving windswept mud flats where the Alaska Highway crosses the diminished inlet. Voluminous glacial meltwaters were suddenly diverted from one side of North America to another — from the Bering Sea to the Gulf of Alaska. The meltwater found a lower, easier path south - from the Kaskawulsh Glacier into the Kaskawulsh River, then the Alsek River, then into the Gulf of Alaska. With its main water supply cut off, Kluane Lake will likely become an isolated basin within a few years, shrinking below its outlet. Lack of inflow is rapidly changing the water chemistry and fish populations of Kluane Lake. Clouds of dust now frequently fill the formerly clear air.
For the last 300 years until 2016, abundant meltwater from the Kaskawulsh Glacier has been channelled by ice dams to drain via the wide Slims River northwards into Kluane Lake. Between 1956 and 2007, the Kaskawulsh glacier retreated by, which most scientists attribute to human-caused climate change. Meltwater flooding from accelerating retreat in 2016 carved a new channel through a large ice field, diverting most flows into the Kaskawulsh River, a tributary of the Alsek, which flows into the Gulf of Alaska.