Via Generation Alpha / FB: Bolivia's Chacaltaya Glacier Melts to Nothing
The Chacaltaya glacier, 5,300m (17,400 ft) up in the Andes, used to be the world's highest ski run.
High above sea level, in the breathtaking Andes mountains of Bolivia, the Chacaltaya glacier existed for 18,000 years, until now. What was known as “the highest ski run in the world” has melted away. ”Chacaltaya has disappeared. It no longer exists,” said Dr. Edson Ramirez, head of a team of scientists studying the glacier and assistant director of the Institute of Hydraulics and Hydrology at the Universidad Mayor de San Andres in La Paz. Chacaltaya, meaning cold road in Aymara, started melting in the mid-1980s. When Ramirez began studying the glacier ten years ago, he and his colleagues concluded it would melt, but not until 2015. According to studies, the thaw rate increased threefold over the last decade. Researchers believe other glaciers in Bolivia, as well as Peru and Ecuador, will experience the same fate.
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Crises Erupt as Glacial Retreat Threatens Water Resources
The dramatic, profound impacts of global warming are increasingly becoming apparent, particularly as regards vital freshwater supplies. Glaciers around the world are in retreat, threatening the sustainability of populations across entire regions—a process that has been under way for decades.
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