Report by David Salazar / AFP
One of Colombia’s highest peaks, Ritacuba Blanco, was covered in a smooth sheet of snow until a few months ago. However, the brutal El Niño phenomenon caused huge cracks in the glacier, unprecedented signs of its agony.
Since November, when the temperature began to rise in the country due to the climate phenomenon, the white layer began to disappear at a speed that experts from the Sierra Nevada El Cocuy, in the far east of the department of Bocayá, considered alarming.
Sugarloaf Mountain seen from Ritacuba Blanco
credits: Luis Acosta / AFP
” data-title=”What does the death of a glacier look like? In Colombia, tourists can see it in real time – What does the death of a glacier look like? In Colombia, tourists can see it in real time – SAPO Viagens”>
Authorities blame El Niño, a natural phenomenon resulting from the warming of the Pacific Ocean, which has affected Colombia since the end of 2023. The country, one of the most biodiverse in the world, recorded the hottest month in history in March, with temperatures of up to 42.4°C in some regions.
“The El Niño phenomenon is perhaps the worst thing that can happen to our mountains or glaciers, as there is an absence of cloud cover and, therefore, no snow falls on the glaciers, which is what we need for them to remain”, explains glaciologist Jorge Luis Ceballos, from the state-owned Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies (Ideam).
Ritacuba Blanco is the one with the most gaps between the country’s snow-capped peaks, which are on the verge of extinction. As it melts drop by drop, tourists visit it and pose for photographs among the high walls of the cracks. Of the 14 tropical glaciers that existed in Colombia at the beginning of the 20th century, only six remain.
“At the end of last year, in this location, the walls measured around six meters”, but now “it barely reaches one meter”. Edwin Prada, a local guide.
One of the glacier crevasses
credits: Luis Acosta / AFP
” data-title=”What does the death of a glacier look like? In Colombia, tourists can see it in real time – What does the death of a glacier look like? In Colombia, tourists can see it in real time – SAPO Viagens”>
Glaciers, thermometers of global warming
El Niño accelerated the disappearance of the glaciers of El Cocuy, an icy paradise where rivers originate, accessible only after a seven-kilometer high hike.
The mountains are home to birds such as Andean condors and mammals such as tapirs and deer.
Hiking in El Cocuy National Park
credits: Luis Acosta / AFP
” data-title=”What does the death of a glacier look like? In Colombia, tourists can see it in real time – What does the death of a glacier look like? In Colombia, tourists can see it in real time – SAPO Viagens”>
According to data from 2022, around 12.8 km² of this territory was then covered by ice and snow, the smallest extent since Ideam has been tracking the data. In 2010, it was 16.5 km² and in 2003, 19.8 km².
In recent months, “the snow has melted due to lack of precipitation, the ice has been exposed to solar radiation and this has accelerated the melting of the ice”, maintains Ceballos, the main authority on the subject in Colombia.
“We observed a change in ice thickness of between 2 and 3 meters (…) this is a lot for a Colombian glacier”, he adds.
In 2023, the planet experienced the highest temperatures on record, according to the European Climate Observatory Copernicus (C3S). The UN calculates that in 2024 the world could break this record.
Tourists visit the glacier. In this image you can see the various cracks in the ice sheet, which should be smooth.
credits: Luis Acosta / AFP
” data-title=”El Cocuy National Natural park – What does the death of a glacier look like? In Colombia, tourists can see it in real time – SAPO Viagens”>
Glaciers, faithful thermometers of global warming, give warning signs. In Asia, the continent most affected by extreme heat, the icy peaks of the Himalayas are also collapsing, threatening the region’s water security, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
The Copernicus observatory indicated this Wednesday that El Niño is “weakening”, something that allows a glimpse of possible relief at the end of the year – but without changing the fundamental trend of warming fueled by the massive use of oil, coal and fossil gas .
I wanted to know it, I didn’t want to miss it before it was over
El Niño caused fires in January that devastated part of Bogotá’s emblematic mountains. That month, fire consumed more than 17,000 hectares of forest across the country.
Some of the flames reached we stoppedfragile and unique ecosystems of Andean countries, whose frailejones, typical vegetables from the biome, were charred. Small lakes that supply water to villages have also dried up.
In an unprecedented decision this century, the Colombian capital decreed rationing of aqueduct services three weeks ago due to low reservoir levels.
“This year, every time I go up it’s worse, there’s already a new crack, more melting ice (…) it’s very sad to see how it’s fragmenting”, laments Luisa Cepeda, a 39-year-old doctor, who walked along with teenage daughter to see the glacier.
“I wanted to see it, I didn’t want to miss it before it was over”, lamented the visitor.
