The Cilo Mountains located in southeastern Turkey house glaciers estimated to be as ancient as 20,000 years.

The ice caps now rise to an altitude of 4,135 meters above sea level, yet they may not remain at this elevation for much longer.

Large portions are disappearing annually because of global warming, and experts suggest that the region should be entirely off-limits to tourists for protection purposes.

‘Considerable thawing has taken place within the glaciers.’

Professor Faruk Alaeddinoğlu from Van Yüzüncü Yıl University (YYÜ) informed the Turkish daily newspaper Daily Sabah about a 55 percent reduction in the glacier coverage over the past three decades.

The temperature variation is significantly greater in the Cilo Mountains at 4,135 meters above sea level when contrasted with lower regions of the nation.

melting

“Occurs significantly faster,” Alaeddinoglu stated.

The ice layers that were once 200 meters thick have now dropped below 50 meters.

As per the researcher, this depth of 50 meters is also not solid glacial matter anymore.

“Substantial melting has taken place within theصند

glaciers

Leading to fractures and the creation of channels and tunnels,” he stated. “Most of the remaining glaciers have suffered significant damage and degradation.

Turkey’s glaciers, which are approximately 20,000 years old, could vanish within the next couple of decades.

Alaeddinoğlu cautions that if these glaciers are not protected, they could vanish entirely within the next two decades.

“These

glaciers

They stand as a legacy, natural marvels that have seen some of the most ancient remains of the Anatolian landscape. It is our duty to safeguard these wonders.”

The Cilo Mountains were established as a national park in 2020 and attract hundreds of nature lovers and trekkers to the region annually.

Alaeddinoğlu thinks that the glaciers should currently be sealed off and protected with an additional covering to aid in their preservation.

“The region has seen increased activity from human tourists. Individuals are now wandering onto the glaciers, posing dangers,” he stated. “Tourists ought to only

photograph

The glaciers seen from afar.”

“We don’t want future generations to merely find out about these glaciers through texts alone, but also witness them visually as well,” he said.

The preservation of glaciers is ‘vital for our survival.’

Across Europe and worldwide, glaciers are confronting a similarly grim destiny.

These frost-covered terrains are currently

9,000 billion tonnes lighter

than when records began in 1975, according to the World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS).

“This is equivalent to a huge ice block the size of Germany with a thickness of 25 metres,” says the service’s director, Prof. Dr. Michael Zemp.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO)’s latest report on the global climate situation

report

showed that between 2022 and 2024, glaciers experienced their most significant three-year reduction ever recorded.

“Out of the ten years with the highest losses in mass balance, seven have taken place since 2016,” states WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo, discussing the discrepancy between the quantity of ice accumulated from snowfall and the amount lost due to seasonal melting in glacier regions.

The UN agency cautions this could trigger “a cascade of interconnected effects,” including issues like flooding and water scarcity.

sea-level rise

.

Saving glaciers is more than just an environmental, economic, and social imperative,” states Saulo. “It’s crucial for our very survival.