Interactive Nature

Papua's eternal ice is running out

Glaciers around Puncak Jaya covered 19.3 square kilometres in 1850. Satellite surveys in 2024 found 0.165, and researchers expect the last ice in the tropical W

Akhyari Hananto

September 27, 2026 7:23 PM GMT+7

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Data Sources

Utama, A. (2026, September). The treasured 'eternal snow' on this tropical island is about to disappear forever. BBC Indonesia / BBC News. Ibel, D., Mölg, T., & Sommer, C. (2025). Brief communication: Tropical glaciers on Puncak Jaya (Irian Jaya/West Papua, Indonesia) close to extinction. The Cryosphere, 19, 6629–6637. https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-6629-2025 Permana, D. S., Thompson, L. G., Mosley-Thompson, E., Davis, M. E., Lin, P.-N., Nicolas, J. P., et al. (2019). Disappearance of the last tropical glaciers in the Western Pacific Warm Pool (Papua, Indonesia) appears imminent. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(52), 26382–26388. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1822037116 Seasia calculations: the 92% decline from 2002 to 2024, the share of 1850 area remaining in each year (waffle and tiles, rounded with the largest-remainder method), and the average yearly loss rates in Chapter 02, computed as 1 minus (end area / start area)^(1 / years), all from the area values in source 2. The 65% loss for 2018 to 2024 is as reported by source 2. The 95% figure is Klaus Thymann's own estimate as reported by source 1 and uses a different method and period.

Glaciers around Puncak Jaya covered 19.3 square kilometres in 1850. Satellite surveys in 2024 found 0.165, and researchers expect the last ice in the tropical Western Pacific to be gone around 2030.

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