Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Friday 27 September 2019
Hardy scientists trek to Venezuela's last glacier amid chaos

By CHRISTINA LARSON While most tundras have
FEDERICA NARANCIO sparse vegetation, the
Associated Press paramos is famous for strik-
MERIDA, Venezuela (AP) ing plants called frailejones
— Blackouts shut off the re- that can be taller than hu-
frigerators where the scien- mans and resemble a cross
tists keep their lab samples. between a cactus and a
Gas shortages mean they palm tree. These mountain
sometimes have to work grasslands also store and
from home. They even re- release water that sustains
use sheets of paper to re- the cities and croplands
cord field data because further downslope.
fresh supplies are so scarce. It's hard to overstate the
As their country falls apart, importance of the Andean
a hardy team of scientists in glaciers in maintaining re-
Venezuela is determined to gional water cycles.
transcend the political and "More than 50 million peo-
economic turmoil to record This April 16, 2019 photo shows an aerial view of the Humboldt glacier, in Merida, Venezuela. ple in South America rely
what happens as the coun- Associated Press on water provision from
try's last glacier vanishes. the Andes," says Francisco
Temperatures are warming best of circumstances, it's ing melted candle wax. member who is a physicist Cuesta, a tropical ecolo-
faster at the Earth's higher no easy trek from the small Mountain fieldwork always at the University of the An- gist at the University of the
elevations than in lowlands, mountain town of Mérida is physically grueling, but des. Americas in Quito, Ecua-
and scientists predict that to the ice sheet perched the deepening crisis in Not now, she tells anyone dor, who marvels at the
the glacier — an ice sheet within Venezuela's Sierra Venezuela since the death who asks. dogged work the team is
in the Andes Mountains — Nevada National Park at of former president Hugo "Climate change is real doing under such punishing
could be gone within two nearly 16,500 feet (5,000 Chavez in 2013 has trans- and has to be document- conditions.
decades. meters) above sea level. formed even simple tasks ed," she says. "We have to "To me, it's incredible that
"If we left and came back When Llambí and three into immense hurdles. be there." they are still doing research
in 20 years, we would have other scientists made the "Things that you normally The Institute of Environ- there," Cuesta says.
missed it," says Luis Daniel journey this spring to scout take for granted for re- mental and Ecological Sci- The region is one of the front
Llambí, a mountain ecolo- out mountain terrain for a search — internet, gas, ences at the University of lines of climate change.
gist at the University of the new research project, they electricity — all become the Andes was founded Glaciers in the tropical An-
Andes in Mérida. first rode a cable car, then scarce and unpredict- 50 years ago, in 1969, and des have been retreating
Scientists say Venezuela will walked a full day to the able," Llambí says. the scientists there see faster than most other gla-
be the first country in South base camp, pitching their Perhaps the hardest toll themselves as custodians ciers since scientists began
America to lose all its gla- tents in drizzling rain. has been watching many of long-term data monitor- keeping detailed records in
ciers. Each day, they then had to of their colleagues and ing how temperatures and the 1970s, because tropical
Throughout history, glaciers climb an additional three students leave, joining the plant life are changing in latitudes get more direct
have waxed and waned hours to reach the glacier, more than 4 million people the region, including in the sunlight and radiation.
numerous times. But the at times donning helmets who have fled Venezuela's Andean ecosystem known When a glacier melts away,
rapid pace of glacial re- and holding tight to ropes political upheaval in recent as the paramos — a mist- at first only bedrock is left
treat over the past century to maneuver up steep years. covered mountain grass- behind — sometimes rough
and a half, accelerated by boulders. Some of the sci- "Every week, someone asks land that lies between the gravel and sometimes
human activities and the entists had waterproofed me why I haven't left," says top of the tree line and the smooth rock, worn down
burning of fossil fuels, cre- their worn-out old boots us- Alejandra Melfo, a team bottom of the glacier. by centuries or millenniums
ates a new urgency — and of grinding ice.
opportunity — for scientists But within a few years or
to understand how freshly decades, bacteria and li-
exposed rock forms new chen began to colonize
soil and eventually new the area. As they decom-
ecosystems. pose the minerals of the
While most of the planet's rock and their bodies then
ice is stored in the polar decay into organic matter,
regions, there are also gla- the first hints of soil begin to
ciers in some mountainous form. And soil is the basis
regions of the tropics — pri- of a new ecosystem, pro-
marily in South America. viding a structure to retain
"Practically all of the high- water and for plant roots to
mountain tropical glaciers grow.
are in the Andes. There's still "The formation of soil is
a little bit on Mount Kiliman- the difference between
jaro," says Robert Hofstede, an ecosystem being able
a tropical ecologist in Ec- to form quickly and be-
uador who advises inter- ing stalled for hundreds of
national agencies such as years," Llambí says.
the World Bank and United On the rocks left behind
Nations. when the glacier retreats,
Monitoring Venezuela's the scientists think that a
Humboldt glacier depends In this May 26, 2019 photo, scientists gather at their camp in the early morning before starting a new ecosystem resembling
on continuous visits, Llam- four-day mission to the Humboldt glacier, in Merida, Venezuela. the paramos may eventu-
bí notes. And even in the Associated Press ally begin to develop.q