Five years ago, the Icelandic Meteorological Officestruck its nameout from the books, officially declaring the Okjokull dead.
Now this team of hikers plan toinstall a memorial plaqueat the site of Okjokull, or Ok glacier.
In the next 200 years all our glaciers are expected to follow the same path.
This monument is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done.
Only you know if we did it.
August 2019415 ppm CO2
The gut-punching eulogy was written by Rice University researcher and author Andri Snr Magnason.
Last June was thehottest Juneever recorded in Europe, since records began in the mid-1800s.
Next year is probably going to be hotter.
But hotter summers are just the tip of the iceberg.
Increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will also make oceans more acidic, further affecting the biodiversity.
Melting glaciers will decrease the salinity of ocean water, which will affect ocean currents.
This in turn will have catastrophic effect on rainfall patterns across the world.
This surprised Cymene Howe, an associate professor of anthropology at Rice University.
They are also often important cultural forms that are full of significance, Howe said.
If this continues, Iceland will lose all its 400-plus glaciers by the year 2200.
A memorial isnt for the dead.
For Ok glacier it is already too late; it is now what scientists call dead ice.'
