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A crack widens in the San Rafael glacier in Chile’s extreme south, and a ten-story iceberg crashes into the lake by the same name – a dramatic reminder of the impacts of global warming.
About 100 icebergs are floating today in the lake San Rafael. They are pieces of the glacier that stretches out over two-thirds now uniced water.
The San Rafael glacier is among 39 in the Northern Patagonian Ice Field (3500 km or 1,350 miles), which together with the Southern Patagonian Ice Field (11,000km2) in Chile’s Aysen area forms one of the largest ice masses in the world.
According to the European Space Agency, satellite images show San Rafael to be one of the world’s most actively calving glaciers and the fastest-moving in Patagonia, “flowing” at a speed of about 7.6 kilometres (4.7 miles) per year – “receding dramatically under the influence of global warming.”
Glaciers are slow-moving ice bodies on land that can be several hundred years old.
Seasonal glacier melting is a natural phenomenon, Jorge O’Kuinghttons from Chile’s water directorate said to AFP.
Excellent indicator
At the moment, Patagonia’s glaciers retreat faster than any other place in the world.
Alexis Segovia (another government glaciologist who works in remote regions of southern Chile) said that “Glaciers can be an excellent indicator of climate changes.”
He stated that only two glaciers in Chile are currently shrinking because of rising temperatures due to man-made greenhouse gas emission.
It’s a vicious circle.
The Earth’s ice-covered surfaces reflect heat back into space from Earth, and if these are decreased by melting, temperatures will rise even further.
The melting glaciers can also contribute to sea level rise, which can increase coastal erosion and storm surges.
Water dammed by glaciers can be released through a sudden collapse.
O’Kuinghttons said that areas are being flooded now that they have never been flooded before.
Glaciologists study the history of Chile’s glaciers to find out what the future holds. These glaciers contain a frozen record of the climate’s changes over time.
According to the WWF more than a third the world’s glaciers will be gone by 2100, even if humanity manages to reduce carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels.
The heat is’strong
Santos Catalan, a small-scale cattle and sheep farmer, has been living in the forefront of change east of San Rafael on the lake General Carrera, which is shared by Chile, Argentina, and Chile.
To supplement his income, he travels across the lake in a wooden vessel with tourists who enjoy watching the glaciers.
He told AFP that the landscape has become less white in the last 15 to twenty years as more of the ice has melted, and more snow has melted.
He said, “Things are changing a lot.” “The heat has never been stronger.”
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by Pablo Cozzaglio & Alberto Peña, AFP
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