From a Glacier's Perspective

March 6, 2023

Snowcover Free Glaciers Generates Fragmenting in Central Andes, Chile

Snowcover free glaciers in the Central Andes in 2014 ad 2023 Landsat images. The ongoing fragmentation and retreat is evident at Point A-H, see closeup details below. The glacier as Point B has melted away, At Point G and H glacier tributaries have separated from the Norte Cipreses Glacier in the valley below. At Point D-F expanding bedrock areas amidst glacier driving further fragmentation. Glaciers at Point A and C …

February 18, 2022

Palomo Glacier, Chile Snow Cover Loss in 2022 and Accelerating Retreat

Palomo Glacier, Chile in Landsat 5, 8 and 9 images illustrating retreat from 1987 position, red arrow, and expansion of bare rock areas amidst the glacier at Point A,B and C. Note lack of retained snowcover in 2022. Palomo Glacier is a large valley glacier in Central Andes of Chile. Adjacent to the Cortaderal Glacier and Universidad Glacier, it flows east from Volcan Paloma (4860 m) and drains into the …

January 31, 2022

Olivares Beta and Gamma Glaciers, Chile Bare of Snowcover in 2022

Olivares Beta (B) and Olivares Gamma (G) Glacier in Sentinel image from 1-23-2022, illustrating the lack of retained snowcover with 8 weeks left in the melt season. The yellow arrow marks proglacial lakes below each glacier. The red arrow an area of emerging bedrock on the upper Beta, X marks a location where the glaciers were joined in 1986 and now have separated. Olivares Beta and Olivares Gamma Glacier are …

January 17, 2022

Cortaderal Glacier, Chile 2022 Heat Wave Reduces Snow Cover, Retreat Continues

Cortaderal Glacier in Landsat images from 2014 and 2022. The glacier retreated 1400 m during this interval. The snowline in January 2014 is at 3750 m. On January 15, 2022 the snowline averages 4100 m with less than 15% snowcovered with 2.5 months left in the melt season. Red arrow is 2014 terminus and yellow arrow is 2022 terminus. Cortaderal Glacier is a large valley glacier in Central Andes of …

May 10, 2016

Glacier Nef, Patagonia, Chile retreat 1987-2016.

Comparison of 1987 and 2015 Landsat images of Nef Glacier at right and Cachet Glacier at left. Indicating retreat of Nef Glacier from red arrows to yellow arrows of 1.8 km and development of a new lake at the terminus. Purple arrows indicate upglacier thinning leading to separation of glacier tributaries. Glacier retreat and thinning is particularly strong in the Patagonian icefields of South America. The two largest temperate ice bodies of …

January 21, 2016

Balmaceda Glacier Retreat, Chile Releases Island

1986 and 2015 Landsat images of the Balmaceda Glacier, Chile region. Red arrow indicates 1986 ice front, yellow arrow 2015 ice front and purple arrow a tributary that has detached. Balmaceda Glacier (Felicia Glacier) is at the southeastern end of the Southern Patagonia Ice Cap (SPI) field and drains into the Serrano River. There is another glacier referred to as Balmaceda that descends steeply almost to the shores of Fiordo Ultima Esperanza, hence Felicia …

October 13, 2015

Colonia Glacier, Chile Retreat and Periodic Lake Outbursts

Comparison of 1987 and 2015 Landsat images indicating retreat from red arrows to yellow arrows of 2.5 km and development of a new lake at the terminus. orange arrow indicates glacier dammed lake that fills and empties periodically. Colonia Glacier drains east from the Northern Patagonia Icefield feeding the Baker River, Chile. It is the largest glacier draining east from the NPI. A comparison of the 1987 and 2015 images indicate …

March 10, 2015

Cordillera Lago General Carrera Glacier Retreat, Chile

You know southern Chile has lots of glaciers when an icefield with an area of 132 square kilometers has no named glaciers. Davies and Glasser (2012) referred to this icefield as Cordillera Lago General Carrera, since it drains into that lake, the icefield is just east of the Northern Patagonia Icefield. Davies and Glasser (2012) noted that the icefield has a mean elevation of 1670 m and has declined from an …

November 9, 2014

Cortaderal Glacier Retreat, Chile

Cortaderal Glacier is in central Chile on the south slope of Paloma a stratovolcano. The glacier feeds the Cortaderal River which joins the Cachapoal River. Pacific Hydro has opened a new hydropower plant at Chacayes that is fed by this and other glaciers. It is a 111 MW run of river project with water taken out at a small dam run through a canal a small reservoir and back into …