The glacier was declared dead in 2014 by glaciologist Oddur Sigurðsson due to its loss of thickness.

[1]: 35 In 2018, anthropologists Cymene Howe and Dominic Boyer of Rice University filmed a documentary about its loss, Not Ok, and proposed a commemorative plaque.

[2][3][4] The plaque was installed on August 18, 2019,[5] with an inscription written by Andri Snær Magnason, titled "A letter to the future", in Icelandic and English.

At the end is the global atmospheric carbon dioxide reading for that month: 415 ppm.

[3] The placement of the plaque is intended to raise awareness of the decline of Iceland's glaciers due to global warming.