Under a cloudless sky, Kelal Ozdemir observed the bare peaks of Mount Cilo in Turkiye’s southeast. “There were glaciers 10 years ago,” he said.
After serving as a mountain guide for 15 years, Ozdemir turned his attention to the torrent, which contained dozens of blocks of ice beneath a slope covered in grass and rocks, a sign that global warming is accelerating glacier loss.
The reason the waterfalls flow so lushly reflects how quickly the ice is melting, he said, “because you can see there are quite a few pieces of glacier in the water right now.”
The glaciers of Mount Cilo, which rises 4, 135 metres (135 feet) above the Iraqi border, are the second-largest in the nation, trailing only Mount Ararat (5, 137 metres, 16 854 feet), 250 kilometers (155 miles) further north.
New areas of the mountains that were once capped in ice are melting quickly year after year as global temperatures rise as a result of human-caused climate change.
Even in Silopi, which is 200 kilometers (124 miles) from Hakkari, on Friday, the country’s record temperature reached 50.5 degrees Celsius (122.9 degrees Fahrenheit) in the region, which is enduring punishing heatwaves, drought, and wildfires.
“The melting process is more rapid than we anticipated.” In this region, almost 50% of this continuous snow and ice cover has disappeared, according to our research, according to Onur Satir, a professor at Yuzuncu Yil University and expert in geographic information systems in the eastern province of Van.
According to Satir, “Some places melt more quickly than others, so it’s actually showing us which locations need to be protected,” but “we have no opportunity to cover the entire ice area.”
In an effort to stop their demise, several glaciers in the Alps have recently been covered in white tarpaulins.
The world’s glaciers will not survive the twenty-first century, according to the UN, putting a strain on the water supply of tens of millions of people.
Walkers have flocked to the Hakkari mountains since the region’s Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters have long fought the Turkish government.
Tourism will increase in the area, which became a national park in 2020, thanks to the ongoing peace process with the PKK, which has begun a disarmament process.
However, some areas have become hazardous due to melting ice. Two walkers were killed in July 2023 when a block of glacier blocks them.
Ozdemir warned against walking on the ice, expressing concerns about the safety of walkers and the preservation of glaciers.
There used to be no roads in the past, but this area is 40 to 50 kilometers (25 to 31 miles) from the city. More vehicles are coming here as a result of the construction of the road, according to the 38-year-old guide, who said the increase in the number of people arriving there actually speeds up the melting a little bit.
Source: Aljazeera
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