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TellUs: Icelandic Funeral Of Glacier Okjokull

Iceland holds a funeral for its first glacier lost, due to climate change

This previous Sunday (August 18th) in Iceland a memorial was held in regards to the glacier Okjokull melting, falling victim of the current climate crisis. For those that aren’t entirely sure, a glacier by definition is “a slowly moving mass or river of ice formed by the accumulation and compaction of snow on mountains or near the poles”. 

Around about one hundred people including scientists, officials, activists and so forth took the two hour hike up a volcano in order for the memorial to take place. People honoured the natural but now fallen structure by reading poems, taking a moment of silence, discussing urgent climate change action and some even drank the glaciers pure water.
A view from the top of the volcano, Ok. Where the Okjokull glacier used to be located. Drepicter / Getty Images Plus
In 1901 a geological map estimated that the Okjokull ice sheet spanned fifteen square metres. In 1986, satellite images provided from the NASA Earth Observatory showed the sheet to be solid-white, thick and opaque. The Icelandic geologist Oddur Sigurdsson stated it used to stretch six square metres at this point in history. However the NASA image from August 1st shows the little glacier that remains.
Two NASA photos showing the shrinking of the Okjokull glacier. Left: Glacier on 14 September 1986. Right: Glacier on 1 August 2019
The Okjokull sheet, situated in west-central Iceland was actually pronounced “dead” by Mr Sigurdsson in 2014, as the glacier was reported to not fit the criteria it needed to be formally labelled one. Due to this there have been some claim that the name Okjokull has been stripped of its last two syllables. The reason being is that jokull means glacier in Icelandic, so you may see the former ice sheet now being referred to as just “Ok”. 

Although this is the first glacier in Iceland to melt, it is estimated that all the nation's ice masses will be gone within the next two-hundred years. This mass equates to about 11% of Iceland. This is a huge issue for Iceland. Due to the fact their energy production is already carbon neutral - which is amazing! However, a lot of their renewable energy production occurs within glacial rivers. So losing glaciers will for sure negatively impact their energy production. However Iceland have stated that by the latest 2040, they aim to be carbon-neutral due to climate concerns, so this issue isn't halting their goals.

This is a microcosm of the dangers the whole planet faces. Iceland aren't the only country that will fall victim due to the disappearance of glaciers. CNN gave a rundown of some potential results of global ice melting, from Antartica to the Himalayas. 

  1. Sea level rising could displace as many as two billion people by 2100.
  2. Islands like Tuvalu, the Maldives and the Marshall Islands could be entirely consumed by rising water levels.
  3. The drinking water of millions who depend on glaciers, like those in the Andes or Himalayas, could be threatened.
  4. The warmer temperatures and flooding associated with sea level rise could disrupt the global food supply, leading to shortages.
  5. Increased coastal flooding could overflow sewage treatment plants, spreading diseases.
  6. Rising sea levels could damage the economy, threatening trading activities and maritime industries.
  7. Melting ice sheets could exacerbate global warming, since open water tends to absorb the solar radiation that ice reflects.

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Check out my previous blog: https://www.tellusabouttheenvironment.com/2019/08/tellus-london-university-takes-climate.html
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