Glaciers are usually associated with colder climates. But some mountain ranges of South America, Africa, and Indonesia are also 26 glaciers and ice sheets. These tropical glaciers serve as a major source of water supply to one-sixth of the world’s population.
A newly published study, however, revealed that rising temperatures are posing an 27 threat to the last tropical glaciers in Indonesia’s Papua region. The ice sheets, which once spanned 20 square kilometers, are thinning over five times as quickly compared to a few years ago. 28 already shrunk by 85% to a mere 0.5 square kilometers, Papua’s glaciers will completely disappear within a decade, researchers have predicted.
The disappearance of the glaciers will also leave a significant 29 impact. For many indigenous Papuans, the ice sheets represent a sacred symbol. “The mountains and valleys are the arms and legs of their god and the glaciers are the head,” explained the head researcher.
The study warned that Papua’s glaciers are only the “first to go” if greenhouse gases are 30 and temperatures continue rising. And this is certainly a serious warning about the depressing fate of other glaciers around the world.
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