Okjökull glacier commemorative plaque on rock

Okjökull (, Ok glacier) was a

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its Ablation#Glaciology, ablation over many years, often Century, centuries. It acquires dis ...

in western

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

on top of the

shield volcano A shield volcano is a type of volcano named for its low profile, resembling a warrior's shield lying on the ground. It is formed by the eruption of highly fluid (low viscosity) lava, which travels farther and forms thinner flows than the more v ...

Ok. Ok is located northeast of

Reykjavík Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. With a po ...

. The glacier was declared dead in 2014 by glaciologist

Oddur Sigurðsson Oddur Sigurðsson (born 28 April 1959) is an Icelandic sprinter. He competed in the 400 metres at the 1980 Summer Olympics and the 1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as ...

. In 2018, anthropologists

Cymene Howe Cymene Howe is a cultural anthropologist and Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Rice University, Houston, Texas, United States. Her research has focused on environment, inequalities and the anthropology of climate change. She has also b ...

and

Dominic Boyer Dominic Boyer is an American-born cultural anthropologist, writer, filmmaker and podcaster whose work focuses on relationships between energy and environment, media and politics. He is the son of historian John W. Boyer. He is Professor of Anthro ...

Rice University William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranke ...

filmed a documentary about its loss, ''Not Ok'', and proposed a commemorative plaque. The plaque was installed on August 18, 2019, with an inscription written by

Andri Snær Magnason Andri Snær Magnason (born 14 July 1973) is an Icelandic writer. He has written novels, poetry, plays, short stories, and essays. Andri is also a director and producer of three documentary films that have premiered in IDFA and CPH:DOX. His wor ...

, titled "A letter to the future", in Icelandic and English. The English version reads:

Ok is the first Icelandic glacier to lose its status as a glacier. In the next 200 years all our glaciers are expected to follow the same path. This monument is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it.

At the end is the global

atmospheric carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere is a trace gas that plays an integral part in the greenhouse effect, carbon cycle, photosynthesis and oceanic carbon cycle. It is one of several greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere that are contributing t ...

reading for that month: 415 ppm. The ceremony was attended by

Katrín Jakobsdóttir Katrín Jakobsdóttir (; born 1 February 1976) is an Icelandic politician who has been serving as the prime minister of Iceland since 2017 and a member of the Althing for the Reykjavík North constituency since 2007. A graduate of the Univers ...

, the Prime Minister of Iceland;

Guðmundur Ingi Guðbrandsson Guðmundur Ingi Guðbrandsson (born 28 March 1977) is a member of parliament Alþingi in Iceland and the Minister of Social Affairs and the Labour Market since November 28, 2021. He represents the Left-Green Party. He was Minister for the Enviro ...

, the Environment Minister; and

Mary Robinson Mary Therese Winifred Robinson ( ga, Máire Mhic Róibín; ; born 21 May 1944) is an Irish politician who was the 7th president of Ireland, serving from December 1990 to September 1997, the first woman to hold this office. Prior to her electi ...

, the former President of Ireland. The placement of the plaque is intended to raise awareness of the decline of Iceland's glaciers due to

global warming In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

. Prior to the ceremony,

NASA Earth Observatory NASA Earth Observatory is an online publishing outlet for NASA which was created in 1999. It is the principal source of satellite imagery and other scientific information pertaining to the climate and the Environment (biophysical), environment whi ...

tweeted images of Okjökull in 1986 and 2019. The Okjökull memorial plaque can be found at the coordinates, N 64°35.498' W 020°52.253' at an elevation of 1,114 meters.

References

Glaciers of Iceland {{Iceland-glacier-stub