(CNN) The demise of Okjökull, the first Icelandic glacier lost to climate change, will be memorialized with a plaque by researchers from Rice University in Houston.

Yes, we are memorializing glaciers now, and no, this is not a joke.

The monument to Okjökull glacier in Borgarfjörður, Iceland, will be installed on August 18 in a public ceremony.

"This will be the first monument to a glacier lost to climate change anywhere in the world," Rice University anthropologist Cymene Howe said. "By marking Ok's [short for Okjökull] passing, we hope to draw attention to what is being lost as Earth's glaciers expire.

"These bodies of ice are the largest freshwater reserves on the planet and frozen within them are histories of the atmosphere. They are also often important cultural forms that are full of significance."

Okjökull is Iceland's first glacier to melt due to climate change.

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