The Southern Patagonian Ice Field ( es, Hielo Continental or '), located at the Southern Patagonic

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

between

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

and

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, is the world's second largest contiguous extrapolar

ice field An ice field (also spelled icefield) is a mass of interconnected valley glaciers (also called mountain glaciers or alpine glaciers) on a mountain mass with protruding rock ridges or summits. They are often found in the colder climates and highe ...

. It is the bigger of two remnant parts of the

Patagonian Ice Sheet upright=1.4, 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. Sea level was much lower than shown here. The Patagonian Ice S ...

, which covered all of southern Chile during the last glacial period, locally called the

Llanquihue glaciation The last glacial period and its associated glaciation is known in southern Chile as the Llanquihue glaciation ( es, Glaciación de Llanquihue). Its type area lies west of Llanquihue Lake where various drifts or end moraine systems belonging to ...

Geography

The Southern Patagonia Ice Field extends from parallels 48° 15′ S to 51° 30′ S for approximately , and has an approximate area of , of which 14,200 km² belong to

and 2,600 km² belong to

. The ice mass feeds dozens of glaciers in the area, among which are the Upsala (765 km²), Viedma (978 km²) and Perito Moreno (258 km²) in the

Los Glaciares National Park Los Glaciares National Park ( es, Parque Nacional Los Glaciares) is a federal protected area in Santa Cruz Province, Argentina. The park covers an area of , making it the largest national park in the country. Established on 11 May 1937, it host ...

in Argentina, and the Pío XI Glacier or Bruggen Glacier (1,265 km², the largest in area and longest in the southern hemisphere outside of Antarctica), O'Higgins (820 km²),

Grey Grey (more common in British English) or gray (more common in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning literally that it is "without color", because it can be composed o ...

(270 km²) and

Tyndall Tyndall (the original spelling, also Tyndale, "Tindol", Tyndal, Tindoll, Tindall, Tindal, Tindale, Tindle, Tindell, Tindill, and Tindel) is the name of an English family taken from the land they held as tenants in chief of the Kings of Engla ...

(331 km²) in Chile. The glaciers going to the west flow into the

fjords In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Icela ...

of the Patagonian channels of the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

; those going to the East flow into the Patagonian lakes Viedma and Argentino, and eventually, through the rivers ''de la Leona'' and Santa Cruz, to the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

. An important part of the ice field is protected under different national parks, such as the

Bernardo O'Higgins Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme (; August 20, 1778 – October 24, 1842) was a Chilean independence leader who freed Chile from Spanish rule in the Chilean War of Independence. He was a wealthy landowner of Basque-Spanish and Irish ancestry. Alth ...

and

Torres del Paine The Cordillera Paine is a mountain group in Torres del Paine National Park in Chilean Patagonia. The cordillera is located north of Punta Arenas, and about south of the Chilean capital Santiago. It belongs to the Commune of Torres del Paine i ...

in Chile, and the aforementioned Los Glaciares in Argentina. There are two known volcanoes under the ice field;

Lautaro Lautaro (Anglicized as 'Levtaru') ( arn, Lef-Traru " swift hawk") (; 1534? – April 29, 1557) was a young Mapuche toqui known for leading the indigenous resistance against Spanish conquest in Chile and developing the tactics that would conti ...

and Viedma. Due to their inaccessibility they are among the least researched volcanoes in Chile and Argentina.

History

Exploration

Thorough explorations include the expeditions of Federico Reichert (1913–1914), Alberto de Agostini (1931), and

Harold William Tilman Major Harold William Tilman, CBE, DSO, MC and Bar, (14 February 1898 – November 1977) was an English mountaineer and explorer, renowned for his Himalayan climbs and sailing voyages. Early years and Africa Bill Tilman was born on 14 Feb ...

and

Jorge Quinteros Jorge ''Polo'' Quinteros (born 27 July 1974 in San Fernando, Buenos Aires Province) is an Argentine retired professional footballer who played as a striker. He has played for Argentinos Juniors in four different spells, his other clubs inclu ...

(1955–1956); as well as Eric Shipton (1960–61). The first (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 1928–29 by

Gunther Plüschow Gunther Plüschow (February 8, 1886 – January 28, 1931) was a German aviator, aerial explorer and author from Munich, Bavaria. His feats include the only escape by a German prisoner of war in World War I from Britain back to Germany; he was ...

after whom a glacier is named. It was further studied in 1943 by aerial photographs made by the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...

on request of the Chilean government.

Borderline

Fifty kilometers of the Chile–Argentina border, between Mount Fitz Roy and

Cerro Murallón Cerro Murallón is a glacier mountain of the Andes, in Patagonia, located on the eastern edge of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field , southwest of Lake Viedma, at the border between Chile and Argentina. On the Argentine side, the hill has been ...

, 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 legislature. Later, in 1998, both governments agreed that the line would run along the high peaks and watershed (as specified in their 1941 treaty) northward from Cerro Murallón to a point on a line of latitude due west of "Section B" that was specified in the 1998 agreement a few km southwest of Mt. Fitz roy. 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.

Controversy

In 2006, the Argentine ''Instituto Geográfico Militar'' (IGM) (today ''Instituto Geográfico Nacional'') edited a map without a note about the nondefined border but showed the Argentine claims as 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 had already been 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 the Southern Patagonian Ice Fields leaving most of the territory in question in the Chilean side (Santis, 1995:3–7). That is the cartography used by many international map publishers for many decades, but since 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. In 2018, Argentina made a National Ice Inventory in which are included some disputed glaciers. From September 20 to October 4 of the same year, the Argentine army traveled to into the area that is pending to be demarcated. This caused controversy mainly in Chile where the mayor of Villa O'Higgins denounced the fact as a "provocation" and made a call to the central government of Chile to reinforce the sovereignty in the zone. After the Argentine government published its inventory of glaciers including undefined territory the Chilean Foreign Ministry informed that a claim note had already been sent denying the Argentine inventory. As of , the demarcation is still pending.

Notes

References

External links

Expedición Transpatagonia 2007, Campo de Hielo Patagónico Sur. Primera exploración histórica del Cordón del Gaviotín y del Lago Greve

by Louis Lliboutry, USGS
South Patagonian Icefield
NASA Earth Observatory, 2017. Includes new satellite imagery.
Subsecretario argentino de turismo dice que mapa de Campos de Hielo es oficial
"El Mercurio", Chile 29 August 2006

Clarín, Argentina 29 August 2006

Clarín, 30 August 1996 {{Authority control Glaciers of Aysén Region Glaciers of Argentina Landforms of Santa Cruz Province, Argentina Última Esperanza Province Landforms of Argentina Bodies of ice of Magallanes Region Territorial disputes of Chile Territorial disputes of Argentina Argentina–Chile relations Ice fields of South America Argentina–Chile border