Global warming has made iconic Andean peak unrecognizable
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/09/global-warming-has-made-iconic-andean-peak-unrecognizable
Source: By Tim Appenzeller, Science Magazine.
Excerpt: On 23 June 1802, German geographer Alexander von Humboldt and his companions could climb no higher. ...they faced a final obstacle in their quest to climb Chimborazo, a 6268-meter-high volcano in Ecuador then thought to be the world's highest mountain. ...But they had to turn back, some 400 vertical meters short of their goal. ...Not long after his descent from the mountain, he sketched a spectacular diagram that used the slopes of Chimborazo to depict a concept that had crystallized during his climb: that climate is an organizing principle of life, shaping the distinct communities of plants and animals found at different altitudes and latitudes. The diagram—Humboldt called it his Tableau Physique—has become what one recent paper described as "an iconic milestone, almost a foundation myth, in the history of ecology."...Tropical mountains are ideal stages for watching climate change unfold. They compress many climates into a small space, as Humboldt wrote in his Essay on the Geography of Plants: "On this steep surface climbing from the ocean level to the perpetual snows, various climates follow one another and are superimposed, so to speak." Now, global warming is quickly reshuffling those montane climates. And few peaks record the impact of human-driven climate change more vividly than Chimborazo itself....
Source: By Tim Appenzeller, Science Magazine.
Excerpt: On 23 June 1802, German geographer Alexander von Humboldt and his companions could climb no higher. ...they faced a final obstacle in their quest to climb Chimborazo, a 6268-meter-high volcano in Ecuador then thought to be the world's highest mountain. ...But they had to turn back, some 400 vertical meters short of their goal. ...Not long after his descent from the mountain, he sketched a spectacular diagram that used the slopes of Chimborazo to depict a concept that had crystallized during his climb: that climate is an organizing principle of life, shaping the distinct communities of plants and animals found at different altitudes and latitudes. The diagram—Humboldt called it his Tableau Physique—has become what one recent paper described as "an iconic milestone, almost a foundation myth, in the history of ecology."...Tropical mountains are ideal stages for watching climate change unfold. They compress many climates into a small space, as Humboldt wrote in his Essay on the Geography of Plants: "On this steep surface climbing from the ocean level to the perpetual snows, various climates follow one another and are superimposed, so to speak." Now, global warming is quickly reshuffling those montane climates. And few peaks record the impact of human-driven climate change more vividly than Chimborazo itself....