[ad_1]
Among the six glaciers that Colombia has – Sierra Nevada Santa Marta, snow-covered Ruiz, Santa Isabel, Tolima, Huila and Cocuy – Santa Isabel is the closest to extinction. Its melting has precipitated and, in the last two years, it has lost 37% of its area, a process never recorded in such a short time. It is estimated that in a decade it will not exist.
This was revealed by Ideam in his report "State of the Glaciers", which shows that since 2010 the national glacial area has been reduced by 8.4 square kilometers, which equates to seven Olympic pools
The Glaciers , it must be remembered, are the mbades of ice present throughout the earth and can be ice caps, ice platforms to the mountains. Its importance lies in the fact that they are climatic, meteorological and hydrological regulators.
"The Ideam in his work monitoring the country's glaciers, we have 19 stations, detected the impact of various phenomena that have affected these ecosystems, for example, global climatic conditions. that our current area of glaciers only reaches 37 square kilometers, "explains Omar Franco director of the meteorological institute.
He said he found that the last 5 years the 5 was extinct, 8% of the glacier area, corresponding to 2.3 square kilometers
"Each glacier is unique and has its own dynamics that make it more or less vulnerable, in this case, the causes of the loss of the Santa Isabel area attributed to its small size, barely measures 0.63 square kilometers for February 2018, its low altitude since it does not exceed 5,000 meters above sea level, presents little snowfall and ash volca on the surface. "
Meanwhile, snow-capped Ruiz and Tolima, explained Ideam, increased their trend of area loss to 7% between 2016 and 2017. On the Sierra Nevada side of Santa Marta, this maintains a loss of 5, 5% of its annual area. Sierra Nevada Cocuy, the country's largest glacier with 13 square kilometers, remains relatively stable with an annual loss rate of 4.8% since 2017 due to snowfall. "What happened at Cocuy, is that during the first half of 2018, one meter of snow has accumulated, which is unusual in recent years," he said. said the manager.
Finally, the Huila snowy volcano 2.7% despite its volcanic activity.
"In general, the snowfall continues to melt, although each at its own pace.The process is attributed to multiple causes, among which its particular sensitivity to climatic conditions and its peculiarities such as the differences in the weather. altitude, topography or to be located in active volcanic areas, "explains Franco
.] Luis Gilberto Murillo, indicated that in this crisis, it is necessary to seek responsibility in warning that It is urgent for countries to comply with the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and reminded that Colombia is fulfilling its commitments, for example by increasing the number of protected areas to 43 million hectares.
"Our call from Colombia targets the countries that are the main emitters of greenhouse gases. We only emit 0.46% and look at the impacts on the country. We therefore call on the United States, Russia, China and India to comply with the Paris Pact because the impacts are enormous in a country with a biodiversity as high as ours. "
[ad_2]
Source link
