Patagonia alarm: the southern ice field is fractured by climate change

SANTIAGO, Chile.- The huge ice mbad of Patagonia known as Campo de Hielo Sur, which they share

Chile

and the

Argentina

, it has been split into two parts in its southernmost zone and will probably continue to be divided by the effect of

climate change

Chilean scientists said after a recent expedition. The separation left a bare rock hole about 100 meters away

Located in the Andes, between Chile and Argentina, the Campo de Hielo Sur glacier complex covers an area of ​​over 12,000 square kilometers and is the largest expanse of ice in the southern hemisphere, outside of Antarctica.

"What happened is a fragmentation, a division, a withdrawal of ice that has resulted in a split in two of this great mbad that is the southern ice field," said Gino Casbada, head of the Glaciology and snow unit of the Water Directorate of the Ministry of Public Works.

"He separated a small body of about 208 square kilometers that left [al descubierto] a band that was previously covered with ice. The ice was so far back and it was so thin that there was a rocky moat, "said the scientist.

The experts also warned that with this setback, the bare rock would absorb more radiation, which could speed up the melting.

The expedition was conducted in March by researchers from Chile's Water Directorate to update the glacier inventory, but that's only now that the results have been revealed.

The impact of this discovery is due, on the one hand, to its great size, and also "to the fact that even these large fields that are thought to be eternal snow are not and withdraw a lot and lose a lot of ice ".

"It shows that these glaciers are fragmenting and that climate change is speeding up the process in Patagonia, those are melting faster than their size in the world," El Mercurio, the coordinator of stocks, responsible for the above. Department and Researcher of the University of Magallanes, Gino Casbada.

The field, which after the division loses its continuity as a mbad of continental ice, has less volume on the edges and "also in height, where it should feed, because these rocky islands appear (…) even divide it it's due to global warming, "Casbada said.

Higher temperatures affect the volume of snow and rainwater that falls in the area, which contributes to melting ice, explained the glaciologist. This is the first such finding in this area of

Patagonia

since they've had satellite recordings, he said.

The southern ice field "We are now two and we will probably discover in the future that there are more than two in the area to the south, where it shrinks so that it only a mountain range covered with ice, "added Casbada.

Reuters Agency and Mercury Newspaper