This 3D model captures a rare tropical glacier before it's gone

Klaus Thymann flew nearly 15,000 feet into Indonesia’s remote Central Papua highlands to document tropical glaciers near Puncak Jaya, the country’s highest mountain. The glaciers sit in a rebel-held area where hiking to the peaks is banned and U.S. travel is warned against due to civil unrest. Access required days of waiting for helicopter conditions, and arrival involved guides and armed guards. Between 1980 and 2024, local glaciers lost 97% of their ice cover, shrinking from about twice Central Park to less than Grand Central Station by 2024. Four of six glaciers have disappeared, and the remaining two are expected to vanish by 2030. Thymann used drones and image-stitching software to build a detailed 3D model of the ice site and the East Northwall glacier.

"“We stand now to lose these glaciers within a decade,” says Thymann, an explorer, photographer, and scientist who spent days creating a detailed 3D model of the remaining ice."

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