Holocene Glacier Fluctuations: Is the Current Rate of Retreat Exceptional?

In the south of Argentina, bordering Chile, there is the most famous glacier in South America: the Perito Moreno. In 2024, about 700,000 people looked out onto the catwalks of the National Park of the Glaciers from which the end of that imposing giant of 260 km2 ice is glimpsed. This year, visitors were surprised by the collapse of icebergs of a greater size than usual, which even temporarily blocked the dock from which the boats depart. They ar…

Holocene glacier fluctuations: is the current rate of retreat exceptional?

Holocene glacier fluctuations: is the current rate of retreat exceptional?

Tourist hotspot Perito Moreno glacier retreats at record speed

A popular tourist glacier in Patagonia, South America is losing mass at the fastest rate and for the most prolonged period in nearly half a century, experts say. Once considered relatively stable compared to other glaciers, and an attraction for nearly 700,000 visitors annually, the Perito Moreno in Los Glaciares National Park in southwest Santa Cruz Province, Argentina, is now said to be experiencing unusually big ice losses, shrinking by an av…

Mýrdalsjökull is shrinking on average by just over a meter per year. The glacier's winter yield was measured yesterday - less snow fell on the glacier than in recent years. The yield of glaciers is measured in spring and autumn - with a difference in accumulation, which is the difference between how much snow accumulates on the glacier during the winter and how much is lost from it during melting in the summer. The yield is positive if more accu…