Photo: Project Pressure
The last tropical glaciers in Southeast Asia are melting away fast, and a Danish explorer has now documented what may be their final years.
An expedition led by Danish explorer Klaus Thymann to the remote Puncak Jaya mountain range in West Papua, Indonesia, has revealed dramatic new evidence of glacier loss in one of the world’s wettest regions, The Guardian reports.
The glaciers, known locally as “eternal snow”, have lost most of their ice in recent decades due to climate change. According to the expedition, the largest remaining glacier has shrunk by 95 percent since 2002.
“The ice will be gone: it’s not a question of if, it’s a question of when,” said Klaus Thymann, founder of the environmental charity Project Pressure.
“And ‘when’ is coming very, very soon.”
The expedition spent two weeks in November documenting the glaciers using drones and satellite positioning systems to create detailed 3D models before the ice disappears completely.
The glaciers on Puncak Jaya are the last tropical glaciers in Oceania. Researchers say four of the six glaciers once found in Papua have already vanished.
Thymann described the experience as deeply emotional.
“You really understand that it is planetary destruction on fast-forward,” he said.
“And that’s both very scary and sad.”
Scientists expect the final glaciers in the area to disappear before the end of this decade.
A secondary aim of the expedition was to preserve a digital record for future generations.
“Believe me, I would much rather there was ice than we had to resort to creating 3D models for future generations,” Thymann said.
