Loss of tropical Pacific glaciers

A study finds that the glaciers near Puncak Jaya in Indonesia are in danger of disappearing within a decade or less. The Puncak Jaya glaciers are the last known tropical glaciers in the West Pacific Warm Pool. The retreat of tropical glaciers is exacerbated by El Niño events, which increase air temperature and decrease precipitation in many regions. Donaldi S. Permana, Lonnie G. Thompson, and colleagues quantified the rate of glacier loss and sampled ice cores to examine the climate record preserved in the glaciers. The ice thinned by around 1.05 meters per year between 2010 and 2015, and the thinning rate increased 5.4-fold during the strong 2015/2016 El Niño. The ice core record preserved climate conditions since 1964, and suggested that the effects of increasing temperatures in the tropical Pacific were augmented by El Niño events. Although the cores represent less than a century of climate history, the authors note that they provide an ice core-derived climate reconstruction in the West Pacific. According to the authors, the glaciers are likely to disappear within a decade, especially if another strong El Niño event occurs.

Article #18-22037: "Disappearance of the last tropical glaciers in the Western Pacific Warm Pool (Papua, Indonesia) appears imminent," by Donaldi S. Permana, et al.

MEDIA CONTACTS: Donaldi S. Permana, Indonesia Agency for Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics, Jakarta, INDONESIA; e-mail: donaldi.permana@bmkg.go.id; Lonnie G. Thompson, Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH; e-mail: thompson.3@osu.edu

###