The last glacier in Venezuela has disappeared

June 7 () –

Venezuela is no longer a country with glaciers after the disappearance of the Humboldt Glacier. This loss is the last blow to tropical glacierswhich have been disappearing as temperatures have increased.

A comparison of images shows the change in glacier ice extent between 2015 and 2024. Images were acquired with the OLI (Operational Land Imager) on Landsat 8 and OLI-2 on Landsat 9, respectively. Both images show the region toward the end of its dry season to minimize the influence of seasonal snow cover on the appearance of the ice remnants.

The Humboldt Glacier has long stood high in the Sierra Nevada de Mérida, a mountain range in the northern extent of the Andes Mountains of South America. In 2015, scientists estimated that this glacier extended around 0.1 square kilometers (10 hectares), NASA reports.

By 2024, the ice area had shrunk to cover about a tenth of that surface. Although there is no universally accepted size criterion that defines a glacier, scientists generally agree that an ice field of this size is stagnant, meaning it is too small to flow downslope under the pressure of its own weight. By that definition, Venezuela is now free of glaciers.

Humboldt has been the last glacier in Venezuela since 2009, after the loss of other glaciers on nearby peaks. Despite its proximity to the equator, the glacier survived as long as it did in part because of its altitude. Glaciers in the tropics (the region of Earth that extends along the equator between latitudes of approximately 30°N and 30°S) exist due to the cold, snowy weather found at high elevations.

The Humboldt Glacier clung to a slope and bed at the base of Humboldt Peak, which lies just below Pico Bolívar, the highest peak in the country. Topography could also have played a role in its relative longevity. Surrounded by extremely steep slopes, the Humboldt Ice It sat on a slightly gentler slope where snow could accumulate and compact. until turning into glacial ice during the coldest conditions of the past.

But the altitude and topography have not been enough to sustain the glacier indefinitely. Evidence from satellite and aerial images, ground observations, and historical sources indicate that the Humboldt Glacier has been in decline for a long time. In 1910, it had an area of ​​3 square kilometers and now covers about 0.01 square kilometers, making Venezuela the first postglacial nation in the Andes.

Glaciers elsewhere in the tropics are showing a similar response to warming. The glaciers of Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and Puncak Jaya in Indonesia, for example, have become stagnant ice fields.. Satellites remain an important tool for scientists mapping these changes and studying how landscapes and ecosystems respond.