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Venezuela is first country to lose all of its glaciers in modern era
The Guardian
|May 08, 2024
Venezuela has lost its last remaining glacier as it shrunk so much that scientists reclassified it as an ice patch.
It is thought Venezuela is the first country to have lost all its glaciers in modern times.
Venezuela had been home to six glaciers in the Sierra Nevada de Mérida mountain range, which lies at about 16,000ft above sea level. Five of the glaciers had disappeared by 2011, leaving just la Corona glacier, close to Humboldt peak.
The glacier had been projected to last at least another decade, but scientists had been unable to monitor the site for a few years due to political turmoil in the country. Now assessments have found the glacier had melted much faster than expected, and had shrunk to an area of less than 2 hectares (5 acres). As a result, its classification was downgraded from glacier to ice field.
This story is from the May 08, 2024 edition of The Guardian.
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