Carstensz Glacier
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Carstensz Glacier is near the peak of
Puncak Jaya Puncak Jaya (; literally "Glorious Peak") or Carstensz Pyramid, Mount Jayawijaya or Mount Carstensz () on the island of New Guinea, with an elevation of , is the list of islands by highest point, highest mountain peak of an island on Earth. Th ...
(sometimes called ''Mount Carstensz'' or the ''Carstensz Pyramid'') which is a mountain in the
Sudirman Range The Sudirman Range, also known as the Snow Mountains,"Sudirman Mountains (Snow Mountains)". Papua Insects Foundation. Accessed 5 August 2021/ref> Dugunduguoo, or Nassau Range is a mountain range in Central Papua province, Indonesia. It is named a ...
of the island of
New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...
, territorially the eastern highlands of
Central Papua Central Papua, officially the Central Papua Province ( id, Provinsi Papua Tengah) is an Indonesian province located in the central region of Western New Guinea. It was formally established on 11 November 2022 from the former eight western regencie ...
,
Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
. The glacier is situated at an elevation of approximately and is east of the summit tower of Puncak Jaya. In 2002 the Carstensz Glacier was in length and wide. The glacier is named after the 17th century Dutch explorer
Jan Carstenszoon Jan Carstenszoon or more commonly Jan Carstensz In Dutch patronyms ending in -szoon were almost universally abbreviated to -sz was a 17th-century Dutch explorer. In 1623, Carstenszoon was commissioned by the Dutch East India Company to lead an ex ...
, commonly known as Jan Carstensz.


Background

Research presented in 2004 of IKONOS
satellite imagery Satellite images (also Earth observation imagery, spaceborne photography, or simply satellite photo) are images of Earth collected by imaging satellites operated by governments and businesses around the world. Satellite imaging companies sell ima ...
of the New Guinean glaciers indicated that in the two years from 2000 to 2002, the Carstensz Glacier had lost a further 6.8% of its surface area. An expedition to the remaining glaciers on Puncak Jaya in 2010 discovered that the ice on the glaciers there is about thick and thinning at a rate of annually. At that rate, the remaining glaciers in the immediate region near Puncak Jaya were expected to last only to the year 2015. A 2019 study predicted their disappearance within a decade. The remaining remnant glaciers on Punkak Jaya were once part of an icecap that developed approximately 5,000 years ago. At least one previous icecap also existed in the region between 15,000 and 7,000 years ago, when it also apparently melted away and disappeared.


See also

*
Retreat of glaciers since 1850 The retreat of glaciers since 1850 affects the availability of fresh water for irrigation and domestic use, mountain recreation, animals and plants that depend on glacier-melt, and, in the longer term, the level of the oceans. Deglaciation occu ...
*
List of glaciers A glacier ( ) or () is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight; it forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation (melting and sublimation) over many years, often centuries. Glaciers slowly deform ...


References

Glaciers of Western New Guinea Geography of Central Papua {{Glacier-stub