Jaap van 't Veen's photos with the keyword: glacier

The Perito Moreno Glacier (Glaciar Perito Moreno) was formed during the last ice age, which means it is about 18.000 years old. The glacier is located within the Los Glaciares National Park and is one of the 48 glaciers of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, the world’s third largest reserve of fresh water. Perito Moreno ends in a fjord, where the ice is up to 60 or 70 metres above the level of Lago Argentino (two-thirds are still below the water level and cannot be seen) and it is 5 km wide. Despite climate change Perito Moreno is one of the few glaciers in the world that still grows, one or two metres a day. From time to time the glacier’s front ice tongue moves forward and joins the shore of Peninsula de Magallanes, creating a massive ice dam. This natural dam makes a part of Lago Argentino raise its level, causing a huge amount of pressure. Finally - this can takes some years - the water pressure is getting too high and the enormous wall of ice falls apart, causing one of the most overwhelming natural phenomenon that can be seen. (It happened just a couple of months after our visit in 2005. The last rupture of Perito Moreno was in March 2018. You even can see the difference between the water level of the two parts of the lake.) The glacier is named after Francisco Moreno, an Argentinean explorer who explored this area in the 19th century and managed to keep it out of Chilean hands. The Los Glaciares National Park, of which Perito Moreno Glacier is a part, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1981. The glacier is accessible from El Calafate in Patagonia. Peninsula de Magallanes has several platforms, which make it possible to get close to the glacier. It is also possible to sail along the glacier by boat.

The Perito Moreno Glacier - named after explorer Francisco Moreno - is located in Los Glaciares National Park, about 80 km’s from El Calafate. The glacier is part of the so called Southern Patagonian Ice Field. This ice field is one of the largest reserves of fresh water on earth. The glacier has a length of 30 km’s and its terminus is 5 km’s wide. We were on a boat trip and it is overwhelming to see this ice wall of 60 metres above the water of Lago Argentino with its crevices, clefts, peaks and sometimes deep turquoise colours. Constantly you hear the noise of large pieces of ice collapsing as the glacier slowly advances. The Perito Moreno Glacier is one of the few Patagonian glaciers that is still growing. On the left side of the picture you can see the glacier terminus 'touching' the mainland and damming a part of Lago Argentino (‘Brazo Rico’). The water level on that part of the lake will rise high above the level on the other side of the ice dam. Every year (or couple of years) the pressure of the dammed water breaks through the ice barrier causing a spectacular rupture, sending a massive outpouring of water from Brazo Rico into Lago Argentino.