REYKJAVIK:Iceland yesterday honored the passing of Okjokull, its first glacier lost toclimate change, as scientists warn that some 400 others on the subarctic islandrisk the same fate. A bronze plaque will be unveiled in a ceremony startingaround 1400 GMT to mark Okjokull -- which translates to "Ok glacier"-- in the west of Iceland, in the presence of local researchers and their peersat Rice University in the United States, who initiated the project.
Iceland's PrimeMinister Katrin Jakobsdottir, Environment Minister Gudmundur Ingi Gudbrandsson,and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson arealso due to attend the event. "This will be the first monument to a glacierlost to climate change anywhere in the world," Cymene Howe, associateprofessor of anthropology at Rice University, said in July.
The plaque bearsthe inscription "A letter to the future," and is intended to raiseawareness about the decline of glaciers and the effects of climate change."In the next 200 years all our glaciers are expected to follow the samepath. This monument is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and whatneeds to be done. Only you know if we did it," the plaque reads.
It is alsolabeled "415 ppm CO2," referring to the record level of carbondioxide measured in the atmosphere last May."Memorials everywhere standfor either human accomplishments, like the deeds of historic figures, or thelosses and deaths we recognize as important," researcher Howe said."By memorializing a fallen glacier, we want to emphasize what is beinglost -- or dying -- the world over, and also draw attention to the fact thatthis is something that humans have 'accomplished', although it is not somethingwe should be proud of."
Howe noted thatthe conversation about climate change can be abstract, with many direstatistics and sophisticated scientific models that can feel incomprehensible."Perhaps a monument to a lost glacier is a better way to fully grasp whatwe now face," she said, highlighting "the power of symbols andceremony to provoke feelings". Iceland loses about 11 billion tons of iceper year, and scientists fear all of the island country's 400-plus glacierswill be gone by 2200, according to Howe and her Rice University colleagueDominic Boyer.
Stripped in 2014
Glaciologistsstripped Okjokull of its glacier status in 2014, a first for Iceland. In 1890,the glacier ice covered 16 square kilometers but by 2012, it measured just 0.7square kilometers, according to a report from the University of Iceland from2017. In 2014, "we made the decision that this was no longer a livingglacier, it was only dead ice, it was not moving," Oddur Sigurdsson, aglaciologist with the Icelandic Meteorological Office said.
To have thestatus of a glacier, the mass of ice and snow must be thick enough to move byits own weight. For that to happen the mass must be approximately 40 to 50meters thick, he said. According to a study published by the InternationalUnion for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)in April, nearly half of the world'sheritage sites could lose their glaciers by 2100 if greenhouse gas emissionscontinue at the current rate.
Sigurdsson saidhe feared "that nothing can be done to stop it." "The inertia ofthe climate system is such that, even if we could stop introducing greenhousegases into the atmosphere right now, it will keep on warming for century and ahalf or two centuries before it reaches equilibrium." Iceland's VatnajokullNational Park, which was added to UNESCO's World Heritage List in early July,is home to, and named after, the largest ice cap in Europe. - AFP