El Cocuy: A few months ago, Colombia’s Ritacuba Blanco mountains were covered in a layer of white ice and snow, for as long as anyone could remember.
But with the South American country hit by the warming effects of the El Nino weather phenomenon since the beginning of last year, large cracks suddenly appeared in the glacier covering the mountain, exposing the rock below.
Experts say the ice is melting at a dizzying rate, and climate change is fueling the El Nino effect, which occurs every two to seven years and lasts nine to 12 months.
The UN’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO) says the record temperatures since June 2023 are partly due to El Niño, “but greenhouse gases are the main culprit”.
Of the 14 tropical glaciers that existed in Colombia at the beginning of the 20th century, only six remained and were rapidly receding.
Ritacuba Blanco in the Sierra Nevada del Cocuy National Park, 250 km northeast of Bogotá, is the most endangered.
“At the end of last year it was six meters (20 feet) high … today it is one meter high,” glacier guide Edwin Prada told AFP.
According to the latest recorded data, about 12.8 square kilometers (4.9 sq mi) of Ritacuba Blanco will be covered by ice and snow in 2022—the lowest ever measured by Ideam.
“Now, due to the lack of rain, the snow has been exposed to solar radiation, which has accelerated the melting of the ice,” said Ceballos.
Humberto Estepa, a resident of Gita near Ritacuba Blanco, said he trembled every time he stepped on the glacier.
Access to the AFP news agency has never been “more visible than today”.
“It gets worse every time you go out.”
The Himalayan ice cap is also disappearing in mainland Asia, which was affected by record global temperatures last year, according to the latest WMO report, threatening long-term water security.
Warming oceans and rapidly melting glaciers and ice sheets last year pushed sea levels to their highest level since satellite records began in 1993, according to the WMO.
El Nino caused massive fires in Colombia this year, burning more than 17,000 hectares of forest.
It’s also drying up lakes, and the capital, Bogotá, was recently forced to take unprecedented measures to distribute city water as reservoirs hit record levels.
“I want to see it… before.”
Sad to see his face. “
