Southern Patagonian Ice Field
Encyclopedia
The Southern Patagonian Ice Field , located at the Southern Patagonic
Patagonia
Patagonia is a region located in Argentina and Chile, integrating the southernmost section of the Andes mountains to the southwest towards the Pacific ocean and from the east of the cordillera to the valleys it follows south through Colorado River towards Carmen de Patagones in the Atlantic Ocean...

 Andes
Andes
The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...

 between Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

 and Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

, is the second largest contiguous extrapolar extent of ice (ice field
Ice field
An ice field is an area less than 50,000 km² of ice often found in the colder climates and higher altitudes of the world where there is sufficient precipitation. It is an extensive area of interconnected valley glaciers from which the higher peaks rise as nunataks...

) in the world. It is the bigger of two remnant parts of the Patagonian Ice Sheet
Patagonian Ice Sheet
350px|thumb|right|Map showing the extent of the Patagonian Ice Sheet in the [[Strait of Magellan]] area during the [[last glacial period]]. Selected modern settlements are shown with yellow dots...

, which covered all of southern Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

  during the Last glacial period, locally called the Llanquihue glaciation.

Geography

The Southern Patagonian Ice Field extends from parallels 48° 20′ S to 51° 30′ S for approximately 350 kilometres (217.5 mi), and has an area of 16800 km² (6,486.5 sq mi), of which roughly 14000 km² (5,405.4 sq mi) fall within Chile and 2500 km² (965.3 sq mi) within Argentina.

The ice mass feeds dozens of glaciers in the area, among which are the Upsala
Upsala Glacier
The Upsala Glacier is a large valley glacier in Argentina's Los Glaciares National Park. It flows out from the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, which also feeds the nearby Perito Moreno Glacier. The terminus of the glacier is at Lago Argentino...

 (902 km²), Viedma (978 km²) and Perito Moreno
Perito Moreno Glacier
The Perito Moreno Glacier is a glacier located in the Los Glaciares National Park in the south west of Santa Cruz province, Argentina. It is one of the most important tourist attractions in the Argentine Patagonia....

 (258 km²) in the Los Glaciares National Park
Los Glaciares National Park
Parque Nacional Los Glaciares is a national park in the Santa Cruz Province, in Argentine Patagonia. It comprises an area of 4459 km². In 1981 it was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO....

 in Argentina, and the Pío XI Glacier or Bruggen Glacier
Brüggen Glacier
Brüggen Glacier, also known as Pío XI Glacier, is in southern Chile and is the largest western outflow from the Southern Patagonian Ice Field. Now about in length, it is the longest glacier in the southern hemisphere outside of Antarctica...

 (1,265 km², the largest in area and longest in the southern hemisphere
Southern Hemisphere
The Southern Hemisphere is the part of Earth that lies south of the equator. The word hemisphere literally means 'half ball' or "half sphere"...

 outside of Antarctica), O'Higgins
O'Higgins Glacier
O'Higgins Glacier is a glacier located in Bernardo O'Higgins National Park, Chile. It is one of the principal glaciers of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field. The summit of the active Lautaro volcano is the top of the accumulation zone of the glacier. The bulk of the glacier is part of the icefield...

 (820 km²), Grey
Grey Glacier
Grey Glacier is a glacier in the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, just west of the Cordillera del Paine. It flows southward into the lake of the same name.-Surroundings:...

 (270 km²) and Tyndall
Tyndall Glacier (Chile)
Tyndall Glacier or Geike Glacier is one of the largest glaciers in the Southern Patagonian Ice Field. It is located in the Torres del Paine National Park, Chile. The glacier has its main calving front in Geikie Lake and like its neighbor, Grey Glacier, it has been significantly retreating for the...

 (331 km²) in Chile. The glaciers going to the west flow into the fjords of the Patagonian channels of the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

; those going to the East flow into the Patagonian lakes Viedma
Lake Viedma
Viedma Lake , approximately 50 miles long in southern Patagonia near the border between Chile and Argentina...

 and Argentino
Lake Argentino
Lago Argentino is a lake in the Patagonian , at . It is the biggest freshwater lake in Argentina, with a surface area of . It has an average depth of , and a maximum depth of ....

, and eventually, through the rivers de la Leona and Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz River (Argentina)
Santa Cruz River is a river from the Argentine province of Santa Cruz.The Santa Cruz begins at the shore of the Viedma and Argentino Lakes, of glacial origin and located in the Los Glaciares National Park, and runs eastwards before reaching the Atlantic Coast, north of the southern tip of South...

, to the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...

.

An important part of the ice field is protected under different national parks, such as the Bernardo O'Higgins
Bernardo O'Higgins National Park
Bernardo O'Higgins National Park is the largest of the protected areas in Chile, covering an area of in both the Aisén and Magallanes and Antártica Chilena regions. The park is named after General Bernardo O'Higgins, first head of state of the Republic of Chile...

 and Torres del Paine
Torres del Paine National Park
Torres del Paine National Park is a national park encompassing mountains, a glacier, a lake, and river-rich areas in southern Chilean Patagonia. The Cordillera del Paine is the centerpiece of the park. It lies in a transition area between the Magellanic subpolar forests and the Patagonian Steppes...

 in Chile, and the aforementioned Los Glaciares
Los Glaciares National Park
Parque Nacional Los Glaciares is a national park in the Santa Cruz Province, in Argentine Patagonia. It comprises an area of 4459 km². In 1981 it was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO....

 in Argentina.

There are two known volcanoes under the ice field; Lautaro and Viedma Volcano. Due to their inaccesibility they are among the least researched volcanoes in Chile and Argentina.

Exploration

Thorough explorations include the expeditions of Federico Reichert (1913–1914), Alberto de Agostini (1931), and Harold William Tilman and Jorge Quinteros
Jorge Quinteros (mountaineer)
Jorge Quinteros is a Chilean mountaineer who has an extensive career as explorer, guide and teacher. Together with Harold William Tilman they were the first to traverse the Southern Patagonian Ice Field in the summer of 1955-1956. Currently he works in Dirección General de Aguas and teaches at the...

 (1955–1956); as well as Eric Shipton
Eric Shipton
Eric Earle Shipton CBE was a distinguished British Himalayan mountaineer.-Early years:Born in Ceylon in 1907 where his father, a tea planter, died before he was three years old. His mother buried her grief by taking Eric and his sister Marge and travelling constantly for the next five years...

 (1960–61). First full (North-South) crossing of the field was accomplished in 1998 by Pablo Besser, Mauricio Rojas, José Montt and Rodrigo Fica. Nevertheless some areas of the field remain largely unexplored

From the air, initial exploration was conducted in 1928-9 by Gunther Plüschow
Gunther Plüschow
Gunther Plüschow was a German aviator, aerial explorer and author from Munich, Bavaria. His feats include the only escape by a German prisoner of war in either World War from Britain back to Germany; he was the first man to explore and film Tierra del Fuego and Patagonia from the air...

 after whom a glacier is named. It was further studied in 1943 by aerial photographs made by the United States Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...

 on request of the Chilean government.

Borderline

Fifty kilometers of the Chile–Argentina border, between Mount Fitzroy and Cerro Murallon, remain undefined, on the ice field.

This Southern Patagonian Ice Field section of the border is the last remaining border issue between Chile and Argentina. On 1 August 1991 the governments of Chile and Argentina agreed on a borderline, but the agreement was never ratified by the Argentine parliament. Later, in 1998, both governments explicitly agreed that the line would run along the high peaks and watershed (as specified in their 1941 treaty) northward from Cerro Murallon to a point on a line of latitude due west of "Point B" that was specified in the 1998 agreement a few km southwest of Mt. Fitzroy. However, they also agreed that final demarcation and exact location of the line there would wait until completion of a detailed 1:50,000 scale map of the area and further negotiations. To date, this one section remains the final non-concluded boundary section and an occasional irritant in Argentina-Chile relations
Argentina-Chile relations
Argentina–Chile relations refers to interstate relations between the Republic of Chile and the Argentine Republic. Argentina and Chile share the world's third-longest international border, which is long and runs from north to the south along the Andes mountains...

.

Controversy

In 2006 the Argentine Instituto Geográfico Militar (IGM) edited a map without a note on the region, instead drawing Argentine claims to the official borderline. After Chilean diplomatic protests the Argentine government withdrew the map and urged Chile to expedite the demarcation of the international border that was already established by both countries in the 1881 treaty. However, many in Chile consider the border to have been established by the "Laudo of 1902" which was an agreement signed "to perpetuity" by both countries under British tutelage. The map published by the British Crown, as part of the documentation of the "Laudo of 1902", illustrates a clear demarcation line (from the Fitz Roy to the Stokes) to the east of Campo de Hielo Sur leaving most of the territory in question in the Chilean side. This is the cartography used by many international map publishers -for many decades- although recently (post 2007) some new international maps show the Argentine claim as the border line.

In January 2008, technicians of both countries began the final demarcation of the border. However, many in Chile, oppose the notion of a new border line since they consider the matter as settled in 1902.

See also

  • Northern Patagonian Ice Field
    Northern Patagonian Ice Field
    The Northern Patagonian Ice Field, located in southern Chile, is the smaller of two remnant parts in which the Patagonian Ice Sheet in the Andes Mountains of lower South America can be divided. It is completely contained within the boundaries of Laguna San Rafael National Park...

  • List of glaciers
  • Argentina-Chile relations
    Argentina-Chile relations
    Argentina–Chile relations refers to interstate relations between the Republic of Chile and the Argentine Republic. Argentina and Chile share the world's third-longest international border, which is long and runs from north to the south along the Andes mountains...


External links

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