Copernicus Sentinel Data 202
The disappearance of a glacier in the Colombian Andes has once again highlighted the concrete effects of climate change.
O glacier of Cerros de la Plaza, in the Sierra Nevada del Cocuy (Colombia), was officially declared extinct last month, March, after decades of continuous retreat caused by rising global temperatures.
Satellite images show the evolution: between 2015 and 2026the ice mass gradually decreased until disappear completely. Now they just come rochas, where there used to be permanent snow.
According to the Colombian Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies, the area of the glacier had already been reduced by approximately 5 km² in the 19th century, to zero today.
“As climate change are a reality which is already transforming our territories. And what is at stake is not just the landscape, but the environment itself. balance of these ecosystems”, notify the institute.
This case is not isolated. The mountain range where this glacier was located is one of the last regions with permanent ice in Colombia, but has lost around 90% of its glacial coverage since the 19th century.
The trend follows what is happening on a global scale, where climate warming has accelerated the melting of ice, affecting both polar regions and tropical mountainous areas, reinforces .
Os impacts go far beyond the landscape. Glaciers play an essential role as freshwater reserves, feeding rivers, ecosystems and human activities such as agriculture and fishing. Its loss could compromise water supplies and destabilize highly biodiverse habitats, such as the Colombian Andes, where emblematic species such as the condor and spectacled bear live.
The last few years have been the hottest on record; this reinforces the direct link between global warming and the disappearance of these ice masses.
Scientific projections suggest that, even meeting international goals such as the Paris Agreement, up to half of the planet’s glaciers could disappear by the end of this century.
