Jakarta. The Meteorological, Climatological, and Geophysical Agency (BMKG) has reported a significant reduction in the thickness of the eternal snow ice cap on Puncak Jaya, in Papua, Indonesia. 

According to the latest observations in December 2023, the ice thickness has decreased by approximately four meters, a phenomenon attributed to climate change.

"The possible cause is related to the El Niño conditions of 2022-2023," stated Donaldi Permana, the Coordinator for Research and Development in Climatology at the BMKG Research and Development Center, as reported by Antara, last week.

Permana explained that glacier monitoring at Puncak Jaya, conducted from 2009 to 2023, indicated an average annual reduction in ice cover of about 0.07 square kilometers from 2016 to 2022. By April 2023, the estimated total ice area was 0.23 square kilometers.

Moreover, in 2022, the BMKG estimated the remaining ice thickness at six meters. However, by December 2023, the ice had thinned further, with a reduction of up to four meters, leaving a thickness of just two meters.

Donaldi pointed out that climate change due to global warming has played a significant role in the gradual thinning of Indonesia's only permanent snow cover since the industrial revolution began in 1850.

He further noted that in 1850, the ice coverage on Puncak Jaya was approximately 19 square kilometers, which had dwindled to an estimated 0.34 square kilometers by May 2022.

In addition to the thinning glacier in Puncak Jaya, Donaldi added that several mountain glaciers in tropical regions are also experiencing melting, including Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Quelccaya in Peru, and Naimona'nyi in the Tibetan Himalayas.

Global climate change made the year 2023 one of the hottest on record, with the global average temperature over the past decade, from 2014 to 2023, reaching 1.20 degrees Celsius, plus or minus 0.12, above normal levels.