Another victim of Global warming: Quilca glacier disappears

January 23rd, 2009

For the second time in as many months, the affects of global warming on Peru’s rare tropical glaciers is made painfully evident.

Tourist attractions like this will also be a thing of the past

Peru’s National Institute for Natural Resources (INRENA) has reported that the Quilca glacier in Puno, 5250 m.a.s.l., has now completely vanished. This is an ominous warming for a country where the vast majority of the population lives on a desert coast who’s rivers are fed by melt waters from similar glaciers.

It is estimated that by the year 2025, Peru will be devoid of any ice whatsoever. “There are glaciers that are increasingly getting smaller and tend to disappear. This is an irreversible process,” explained Marco Zapata, head of the glaciology department for INRENA.