Iceland on Sunday honored the passing of Okjokull, its first glacier lost to climate change, as scientists warn that some 400 others on the subarctic island risk the same fate.
Okyokull on September 7, 1986 and on August 9, 2019, Iceland. /VCG Photo
A bronze plaque was mounted on a bare rock in a ceremony on the former glacier in western Iceland, attended by hundreds of scientists, journalists and members of the public who trekked to the site.
The plaque bears the inscription "A letter to the future," and is intended to raise awareness about the decline of glaciers and the effects of climate change.
It is also labelled "415 ppm CO2," referring to the record level of carbon dioxide measured in the atmosphere last May.
A plaque intended to raise awareness about the decline of glaciers and the effects of climate change was mounted on the former glacier in western Iceland. /VCG Photo
Glaciers cover about 11 percent of Iceland's surface. The country loses about 11 billion tonnes of ice per year, and scientists fear all of the island's 400-plus glaciers will be gone by 2200.
Glaciologists stripped 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 0.7 square kilometers, according to a report from the University of Iceland from 2017.
According to a study published by the International Union for Conservation of Nature in April, nearly half of the world's heritage sites could lose their glaciers by 2100 if greenhouse gas emissions continue at the current rate.
(Cover image: Site of the former glacier Okjokull, Iceland, August 18, 2019. /VCG Photo)
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