Cerros

In March 2026, Colombia officially lost another glacier. The Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies confirmed it: The Cerros de la Plaza glacier, located in the Sierra Nevada de Güicán or El Cocuy, had disappeared. It was not a surprise: they had been warning about it for a long time. From 5.5 square kilometers to zero. The news arrived accompanied of a sequence of satellite images that document with cruel precision a decade of agony: the European Space Agency’s Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellites they were monitoring its decline since 2016, frame by frame, without anyone being able to do anything. To Colombia It has six glaciers left. For now. goodbye to Plaza Hills. The Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellites captured the state of the glacier at six key moments between 2016 and 2026. In 2016 the ice mass was still visible, with white and bluish tones over the high mountain landscape. In 2018 and 2020 the reduction was already significant. In 2022 and 2024 the ice appeared divided into increasingly smaller fragments, scattered over the rock. At the beginning of 2025, only isolated remains remained. By 2026, the white signal had completely disappeared from the image. They verified its extinction with support from the Agustín Codazzi Geographic Institute. It is, therefore, a definitive extinction, as the IDEAM concluded. The disappearance of the Cerros de la Plaza glacier in northern Colombia. Eu-Space Why is it important. The disappearance of a glacier has several implications. From a hydrological point of view, saying goodbye to an Andean glacier means saying goodbye to a natural regulator that supplies water to the surrounding valleys in the dry season, since these bodies accumulate water and release it little by little when it is hotter and rain is scarce, that is, when it is most needed. Without this mechanism, the flora, fauna and communities that depend on these basins are exposed. The biological damage is equally profound. The glacier was part of a high mountain ecosystem, with species adapted to those conditions. The International Union for Conservation of Nature consider The Colombian moors are one of the most vulnerable ecosystems to climate change on the planet: when the ice disappears, it fragments habitats, threatens species and breaks ecological balances that have been in place for millennia. Context. In the mid-19th century, Cerros de la Plaza covered approximately 5.5 square kilometers, the size of several hundred soccer fields. In 2016, the area had already been reduced to just 0.15 square kilometers and this decade it has completely disappeared. Be careful, it is not a process that began in 2016: the decline has been documented since the 19th century, although in recent decades it has accelerated drastically. According to IDEAMColombia went from approximately 347.9 square kilometers of glacial coverage in the 19th century to only 30.83 square kilometers in 2024. At least 13 glaciers have completely disappeared since the mid-20th century and the six that remain are in accelerated retreat. If the trend continues, by 2050 Colombia could lose them all. But it is not an isolated case: throughout Latin America the retreat of glaciers is a general trend. How it happened. Tropical glaciers are especially sensitive to climate change, as explains IDEAM. To begin with, they are exposed to warm temperatures for almost the entire year, without a winter that allows enough snow to accumulate to compensate for the melting. So any sustained increase in average temperature has a direct and immediate impact on the ice mass, by lack recovery cycles that cushion the setback in other latitudes. In addition, Cerros de la Plaza is at an altitude close to 5,000 meters, which is relatively low to keep the ice stable. Likewise, precipitation in the form of snow has also decreased, so that the accumulation and the albedo and its effects: If there is less white surface where solar radiation can be reflected, the exposed rocky terrain absorbs more heat, accelerating melting. It enters a vicious circle that ends in progressive glacial collapse, that is, sustained and irreversible degradation. In Xataka | For an entire lake in Canada to disappear in just 15 days is rare. Science has a disturbing explanation In Xataka | Chronicle of an announced collapse: the NASA map that shows how quickly Mexico City is sinking Cover | Copernicus Sentinel – 2 Europe