18,000-Year-Old Andean Glacier Loses 80% Of Its Area In Past 20 Years - May Vanish This Year - BBC

[hatrack]

EDIT

Sure enough, a few days later I received by e-mail a photo taken by members of Mr Ramirez's team on 1 March of what was left of the glacier. All that could be seen of what was once a 500-metre long glacier are just two separate areas of ice.

Even on the day of our visit, you could see the clear outline of the two patches of glacier under the snow, measuring about 60 by 20 metres. Not far away stood a forlorn ski lift, not used since 1998. "We keep having to revise downwards our projections of when Chacaltaya is going to disappear completely," said Mr Ramirez, who has been monitoring the glacier since 1995. "Not long ago we thought it was going to be 2015, now we think it could be this year or next."

Mr Ramirez is not alone in stressing the dramatic acceleration of the glacial melt since the 1980s. The Bolivian government is certainly taking it seriously.

Back down in La Paz, the head of the national climate change programme, Oscar Paz, said: "These glaciers are our water stores. One of our great concerns is the future of our drinking water supplies." Chacaltaya may be a symbol of what is happening to small Andean glaciers, but it does not provide the water to La Paz and neighbouring El Alto, home to nearly two million people. For that you have to travel about an hour down more bone-jarring tracks to the spectacular range of mountains called Tuni Condoriri, named after their appearance like a condor hunched ready to pounce.

EDIT


Chacaltaya over time

EDIT

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6496429.stm

[The_Casual_Observer]

1. Either it's global warming, or just by shear coincidence

we are living through a massive climate like nothing recorded in millions of years of the geological record.

[jody]

2. Boulder Colorado gets much of its water from Arapahoe Glacier which it owns. Wonder if its melting?

[louis-t]

3. Gee, if this 18,000 yr old glacier melts

one less piece of evidence that the earth is older than 6,000 yrs! bushco must be so happy.

[Vulture]

4. On the bright side...

...such as it is...

In some parts of the world (I've seen archaeological papers in both Europe and North America) the receding glaciers are uncovering a treasure trove of very old archaeological artifacts that were covered up when the glaciation originally occurred during the last ice age. Apparently the trick is to get to them as soon as they are exposed to minimize decay once they are defrosted, but they represent some of the best prehistorical artifacts we have and have been very educational.

A small blessing, but a blessing nonetheless.

[phantom power]

5. Wow. Faster than...

oh, why bother?