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Aysen (Chile) (AFP) – A crack opens in Chile’s San Rafael glacier, in Chile’s extreme South. A ten-storey iceberg crashes into the same lake. It is a stark reminder of the effects 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, one of 39 located in the Northern Patagonian Ice Field (3,000 km2 or 1,350 sq miles), is combined with the Southern Patagonian Ice Field (11,000km2), Chile’s Aysen Region, to form one of the biggest ice masses on the planet.
Satellite images from the European Space Agency show San Rafael as one of the most active calving glaciers in the world and the fastest-moving glacier in Patagonia. It “flows” at a speed approximately 7.6 kilometers (4.7 mi) per year, which is “receding dramatically due to global warming.”
Glaciers are bodies made up of slow-moving ice on the ground that can be hundreds to several thousand years old.
According to Jorge O’Kuinghttons (a regional head of glaciology in Chile’s water department), seasonal glacier melt is a natural phenomenon that has been accelerated by global warming.
‘Excellent indicator’
At the moment, Patagonia glaciers are retreating faster that anywhere else in the globe.
Alexis Segovia, another government glaciologist working in remote Chile, said that “Glaciers are a great indicator of climate change.”
He stated that all but two glaciers in Chile’s 26,000 are being destroyed by 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.
Sea level rise is also caused by melting glaciers, which increases coastal erosion as well as storm surges.
Water can also be released from glaciers by 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 that a third of the remaining glaciers in the world will melt before 2100, even if humans manage to reduce emissions from fossil fuels.
The heat is strong
Santos Catalan, a small-scale sheep and cattle farmer from San Rafael, is located east of San Rafael. This lake is shared with Chile and Argentina.
He uses a wooden boat to cross the lake with tourists who are interested in watching glaciers, to increase his income.
According to him, the landscape has become less white over the past 15 to 20 years as the ice melts and snow dwindles.
He said, “Things are changing a lot.” “The heat has never been stronger.”
© 2022 AFP
