Patagonian Icefields In Rapid Meltdown

[hatrack]

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The glaciers and icefields, which cover more than 17,000 square kilometres across Chile and Argentina, are disappearing at a rate of 42 cubic kilometres a year - the fastest glacial recession in the world.

The most recent pictures of the Upsala glacier, in Argentina, were taken last month by a Greenpeace research team that toured the region gathering evidence on the accelerating disappearance of some of the world's most famous icefields. The team found that compared with photos taken from the same outlook in 1928, the glaciers had significantly thinned and retreated several kilometres.

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While that did not affect local communities' freshwater supplies, as it had in regions such as the Himalayas, it would eventually damage local tourism.

In the meantime, it had already hurt the fishing industry. "Now, because (the glacier is) receding so fast, fishermen can fish only two months, rather than six, because there's so much ice in the water," Mr Thijssen said. "Glaciers advance and recede all the time but the cycle is usually over 10,000 years, and the rate at which it is currently melting cannot be explained by natural glacial."

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[mmm]

1. great post