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Dying glaciers: The Earth's vanishing ice

On August 18, Iceland held a funeral for the first glacier lost to climate change

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People walking on snow atop the Ok volcano crater on their way to a ceremony by the area which once was the Okjokull glacier in Iceland

© AP Photo/Felipe Dana

Researchers and activists in Iceland have bid goodbye to Okjokull, country's first glacier lost to climate change

© AP Photo/Felipe Dana

A combination of Sept. 14, 1986 (left) and Aug. 1, 2019 (right) photos provided by NASA shows the shrinking of the Okjokull glacier on the Ok volcano in west-central Iceland

A geological map from 1901 estimated Okjökull spanned an area of about 38 square kilometers. In 1978, aerial photography showed the glacier was 3 square kilometers, in 2019, less than 1 square kilometer remains. Photo: A girl holding a sign as she attends a ceremony in the area which once was the Okjokull glacier in Iceland

© AP Photo/Felipe Dana

With poetry, moments of silence and political speeches about the urgent need to fight climate change, Icelandic officials, activists and others said goodbye to the first Icelandic glacier to disappear

© AP Photo/Felipe Dana

Large Icebergs floating away near Kulusuk, Greenland

© AP Photo/Felipe Dana

A large Iceberg floating away near Kulusuk, Greenland

© AP Photo/Felipe Dana

Greenland has been melting faster in the last decade and this summer, it has seen two of the biggest melts on record since 2012. Photo: An iceberg is seen near a cemetery in Kulusuk, Greenland

© AP Photo/Felipe Dana

An aerial view of large Icebergs floating near Kulusuk, Greenland

© AP Photo/Felipe Dana

A boat navigating at night next to a large iceberg in eastern Greenland

© AP Photo/Felipe Dana

By the end of the summer 2019, about 440 billion tons of ice, maybe more, will have melted or calved off Greenland's giant ice sheet, scientists estimate

© AP Photo/Felipe Dana

A boat navigating at night next to a large iceberg in eastern Greenland

© AP Photo/Felipe Dana

On August 18, with poetry, moments of silence and political speeches about the urgent need to fight climate change, Icelandic officials, activists and others bade goodbye to the first Icelandic glacier to disappear. A geological map from 1901 estimated Okjökull glacier spanned an area of about 38 square kilometers. In 1978, aerial photography showed the glacier was 3 square kilometers, in 2019, less than 1 square kilometer remains. The ceremony was held just days after scientists said July the Earth's warmest month ever recorded and Greenland's massive ice sheet experienced a "major melting event" that resulted in the loss of billions of tons of ice.

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