Glacier Pio XI
This morning we experienced the struggle that ice has in Patagonia. It has been the major shaper and controller of the geography in this part of the world for a few million years. Once formed from the countless snowflakes descended from uncounted storms, the ice began to make its way down hill to the sea, pulverizing rock, destroying ecosystems, and altering the flow of the ocean along the way. During its greatest extent, the ice then deposited that rock into the sea, formed modified areas for life to thrive and created a new ocean flow around Patagonia. Today, the ice is in retreat in many parts of the fjords of Chile. Not being able to withstand the change in climate over the past ten eons, it is shrinking back. The landscape the ice has left behind is a beautiful one. Fjords, mountains, bays, straights, waterfalls, moraines and the remaining glaciers make for a wonderful scenic part of Chile.
We explored the Pio XI glacier, at almost two miles wide and 200 feet tall at the face, one of the largest glaciers in Chile. After a walk on the outwash plain of the glacier, many of us took a Zodiac cruise along the face of the ice and marveled at its blue hues and craggy forms. We could tell that it was losing it battle though. From shore the exposed rock buffer zone between ice and life was shrinking. The life, in the form of plants and the birds and insect they support, was edging ever closer. Healthy forests of Nathofagus (Southern beach trees) stood watch over the ice. The sight of glacier blue and forest green was extraordinary.
From this point our expedition takes us farther north, where the trees have won the battle …. for now.
This morning we experienced the struggle that ice has in Patagonia. It has been the major shaper and controller of the geography in this part of the world for a few million years. Once formed from the countless snowflakes descended from uncounted storms, the ice began to make its way down hill to the sea, pulverizing rock, destroying ecosystems, and altering the flow of the ocean along the way. During its greatest extent, the ice then deposited that rock into the sea, formed modified areas for life to thrive and created a new ocean flow around Patagonia. Today, the ice is in retreat in many parts of the fjords of Chile. Not being able to withstand the change in climate over the past ten eons, it is shrinking back. The landscape the ice has left behind is a beautiful one. Fjords, mountains, bays, straights, waterfalls, moraines and the remaining glaciers make for a wonderful scenic part of Chile.
We explored the Pio XI glacier, at almost two miles wide and 200 feet tall at the face, one of the largest glaciers in Chile. After a walk on the outwash plain of the glacier, many of us took a Zodiac cruise along the face of the ice and marveled at its blue hues and craggy forms. We could tell that it was losing it battle though. From shore the exposed rock buffer zone between ice and life was shrinking. The life, in the form of plants and the birds and insect they support, was edging ever closer. Healthy forests of Nathofagus (Southern beach trees) stood watch over the ice. The sight of glacier blue and forest green was extraordinary.
From this point our expedition takes us farther north, where the trees have won the battle …. for now.
