CARACAS, Venezuela: The people of Mérida, Venezuela, have long cherished the glaciated peaks of the Sierra Nevada. These mountains are integral to the region’s identity, steeped in legends involving mythical white eagles. However, the glaciers that once adorned these peaks are now all gone.
Recently, the International Climate and Cryosphere Initiative (ICCI) declared the Humboldt Glacier, also known as La Corona, too small to be classified as a glacier. Venezuelan scientists had already sounded the alarm in March about its dramatic shrinkage.
“Our tropical glaciers began to disappear in the ’70s and their absence is felt,” said Alejandra Melfo, an astrophysicist at the Universidad de los Andes in Mérida. The six glaciers of Sierra Nevada, once located about 16,000 feet above sea level, have gradually vanished, with the Humboldt Glacier being the last to succumb.
Glaciers form from centuries of snow accumulation and typically exist where average annual temperatures are near freezing. For glaciers to sustain and grow, temperatures during the rest of the year must not cause complete loss of the previous winter’s snow. This balance failed for the Humboldt Glacier, leading to its erosion.
Global warming has accelerated the melting of large ice masses, contributing to rising sea levels. According to geological researcher Maximiliano Bezada, the Humboldt Glacier’s prolonged existence at 4,800 meters was a climatic anomaly. However, political turmoil in Venezuela hampered scientists’ efforts to monitor it closely.
The phenomenon of shrinking glaciers is not unique to Venezuela. A 2023 study predicts that if current temperature trends continue, 83% of the world’s glaciers will disappear by 2100. Between 1952 and 2019, Venezuela’s glacier surface shrank from 2,317 square kilometers to just 0.046 square kilometers.
Climate change’s impact is evident in the Andes, a mountain range running through several South American countries. The region has experienced a temperature rise of at least 0.10 degrees Celsius over the past seven decades. Researchers attribute the melting of the Humboldt Glacier partly to the El Niño climate phenomenon, which causes warmer temperatures that accelerate glacial melt.
Despite the grim news, the melting glacier presents an opportunity for further study. Melfo notes that the end of the glacier marks the beginning of a new ecological process in the area, as life starts to colonize the newly exposed rock, leading to the development of a new ecosystem.
For the residents of Mérida, the disappearance of glaciers is a profound loss. Melfo predicts that locals will continue to refer to the Humboldt Glacier as long as any ice remains visible, just as they did with Pico Bolívar’s glacier, which ceased to exist in 2020.
The disappearance of Venezuela’s last glacier is a stark reminder of the tangible impacts of climate change and underscores the urgent need for global action to address rising temperatures and environmental degradation.
