Pico Humboldt is Venezuela's second highest peak, at 4,925 metres above sea level. It is located in the Sierra Nevada de Merida, in the Venezuelan Andes of (Mérida State). The peak, its sister peak Pico Bonpland, and the surrounding páramos are protected by the Sierra Nevada National Park. The mountain is named after German explorer and naturalist Alexander von Humboldt.
| Pico Humboldt | |
|---|---|
 Pico Humboldt in 2008 | |
| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 4,925 m (16,158 ft) |
| Prominence | 440 m |
| Isolation | 5.62 km (3.49 mi)  |
| Coordinates | 8°32′58.78″N 70°59′46.11″W / 8.5496611°N 70.9961417°W |
| Geography | |
 | |
| Location | Mérida, Venezuela |
| Parent range | Sierra Nevada, Andes |
| Climbing | |
| First ascent | 1911 by Alfredo Jahn |
| Easiest route | Laguna del Suero |
Glaciers
editThe summit was formerly surrounded by glaciers, including the two largest out of the four glaciers remaining in the country (the other two smaller glaciers were on Pico Bolívar). The glaciers on Humboldt Peak (as most tropical glaciers) have been receding fast since the 1970s. By 2009, all but one glacier, the Humboldt Glacier, had vanished. In 2019, the remaining glacier covers an area of 0.1 km2 and was forecast to melt completely within a decade:[1][2][3] in May 2024, the Humboldt Glacier was officially downgraded to an ice field, no longer considered a glacier.[4]
Glacier ecosystem
editHumboldt peak also hosts the last remnant of the Tropical glacier ecosystem of the Cordillera de Merida. This ecosystem is formed by the interconnected remaining ice substrate, proglacial lakes and glacier forefield. As the ice substrate declines, the risk of losing these connections increases and the ecosystem is considered critically endangered (category CR) with high risk of imminent collapse, according to a recent IUCN Red List of Ecosystems assessment. [5]
Notes
edit- ^ Braun, Carsten; Bezada, Maximiliano (January 2013). "The History and Disappearance of Glaciers in Venezuela". Journal of Latin American Geography. doi:10.1353/lag.2013.0.
- ^ Rodríguez, Jeanfreddy Gutiérrez and María Fernanda (2019-01-15). "Watching Venezuela's Last Glacier Disappear". The Atlantic. ISSN 1072-7825. Retrieved 2019-01-27.
- ^ Mandel, Kyla (2018-11-26). "Venezuela's last glacier is about to disappear". National Geographic. Archived from the original on November 26, 2018. Retrieved 2019-01-27.
- ^ Vallangi, Neelima (8 May 2024). "Venezuela loses its last glacier as it shrinks down to an ice field". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
- ^ Ferrer-Paris, José R.; Llambí, Luis D.; Melfo, Alejandra; Keith, David A. (10 September 2024). "First Red List of Ecosystems assessment of a tropical glacier ecosystem to diagnose the pathways towards imminent collapse". Oryx: 1–11. doi:10.1017/s0030605323001771.
References
edit- Jahn A, Observaciones glaciológicas de los Andes venezolanos. Cult. Venez. 1925, 64:265-80
External links
edit
- Hansen, Kathryn Hansen (August 27, 2018). "Last glacier standing in Venezuela". Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet. NASA's Earth Observatory. Retrieved 2019-01-27.
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