The end of the eternal snows: Integrative mapping of 100 years of glacier retreat in the Venezuelan Andes

ABSTRACT

Venezuela will soon become the first Andean country to lose all of its glaciers, as the “eternal snows” of the Sierra Nevada de Mérida (SNM) disappear. Although documentation of glacier retreat in Venezuela commenced over a century ago, an updated reconstruction at sufficient spatial resolution is warranted. Our objectives were to (a) produce detailed multitemporal maps of glacier cover in the SNM since 1952 and revise historical estimates for 1910 and (b) document changes in cover and rates of glacier retreat of the last Venezuelan glacier at Humboldt Peak. We integrated multiple information sources, including topographic/geomorphic evidence, high-resolution aerial photographs, satellite images, historical maps, panoramic photos, and field observations. We present 1:5,000 maps of glacier cover between 1952 and 2019 and revise the maps of 1910. In Venezuela, glacial area has decreased 98 percent between 1952 and 2019 (from 2.317 km² to 0.046 km²). Glacier retreat rates increased after 1998, with a maximum of −16.9 percent year⁻¹ between 2016 and 2019. These new maps should provide an essential tool for biophysical, ecological, and historical studies and a key reference for promoting awareness on climate change in the tropical Andes, where glaciers are intimately linked with cultural identity.

KEYWORDS:

• Climate change
• geographic information system
• glacier retreat
• historical evidence
• high tropical Andes
• Venezuela

Acknowledgments

We thank two anonymous referees for their detailed comments and suggestions, which greatly improved the article. The Mérida Cable Car System (Mucumbarí) and the Instituto Nacional de Parques provided key assistance for access to the study area in the Humboldt Peak. Thanks also to URO and UGAM mountaineering organizations for their invaluable assistance and logistic support during field expeditions. We are especially grateful to José Betancourt for sharing with us his private collection of photographs and information from his unique experience of fifty years of exploration of the Sierra Nevada and to José M. Romero for recent photos of Humboldt and Bolivar Peaks. Finally, thanks to the incredible spirit of the Last Venezuelan Glacier team and colleagues at ICAE, Universidad de Los Andes, for their perseverance during challenging times for scientific research in Venezuela.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed on the publisher’s website.

Funding

We thank the National Geographic Society for their financial support (Grant No. NGS-55170R-19).