Andes' glaciers shrinking at 'unprecedented' rate
The consequences of climate change are becoming clear in South America's Andes mountain range. Here, glaciers are melting even faster than elsewhere in the world, changing the way of life for millions of people.
Melting majesty
The highest mountains in the Americas can be found in the Cordillera Blanca range in the northern Andes of Peru. But even there, the ice on the peaks, which are up to 6,700 meters (22,000 feet) high, is under threat. Rising temperatures are causing rapid glacier melt and thawing permafrost. This has increased the risk of floods and landslides — and threatens drinking water for millions.
High temperatures at high altitude
The glacier on Nevado Pastoruri in the Huascaran National Park is rapidly disappearing. A multinational study has shown that daytime winter surface temperatures in the Andes have risen by 0.5 degrees Celsius (0.9 degrees Fahrenheit) per decade since 2000 at altitudes of 1,000 to 1,500 meters (3,200 to 5,000 feet). The increase above 5,000 meters has been as high as 1.7 degrees Celsius.
Changing landscape
Lakes have formed on Peru's Mateo Mountain due to the heat. Just a few years ago, hikers had to cross a glacier to reach the mountain's summit. The final ascent is now a rocky slope.
Difficult to grasp
"The changes we're seeing are unprecedented in recent human history," Pablo Wainstein, a Chilean civil engineer who has studied glaciers of the Andes and the Arctic for more than two decades, told the Reuters news agency. These glaciers have been little studied because the mountain range is so large and remote, he added.
'Raindrops at 5,000 meters isn't common'
The Andes are an important source of water. In winter, glaciers store snow and ice, releasing it again as meltwater in the spring. But now it rains at high altitudes, like here on the Nevado Pastoruri in Peru. "Having raindrops at 5,000 meters isn't common or natural. It's an indicator that pressure, temperature are completely altered," said Edson Ramirez, a park ranger at Huascaran.
A revered peak crumbles
Similar conditions have taken hold around 2,800 kilometers further south. In Chile, El Plomo rises 5,400 meters into the sky. On clear days, the massif can even be seen from the nearby capital, Santiago. For centuries, the glaciated peak has been climbed and revered — the Incas even made human sacrifices to it. But now El Plomo is crumbling as climate change takes its toll on the ice.
Threatened livelihood
"Every year things are changing more. Every year there's more sadness," muleteer Francisco Gallardo told Reuters. He has been working on El Plomo since age 14, helping mountaineers get to the base camp around 1,300 meters below the summit. The 60-year-old fears he and his family will only be able to stay for another 10 years or so before they'll be forced to move and look for new work.
From glacier to forest
Osvaldo Segundo Villegas has been a mountain rescuer on El Plomo for 50 years. Among other expeditions, he helped to rescue Uruguay's rugby team when their plane crashed in the Andes on its way to Santiago in 1972. "There were places in Patagonia I went to that were all glacier, now it's forest. And that's how it's going to be," the 80-year-old predicts.
Rockfall adds risk to a traditional route
The path to summit Lo Curro near Santiago is still the same route that the Incas once took. But due to the melting permafrost, there is now a greater risk of rockfalls and landslides. Here, volunteers from the Socorro Andino mountain rescue team practice how to bring people who have fallen from the crumbling rock face back to safety without endangering themselves.