THE BEAUTIFUL PERITO MORENO GLACIER IN ARGENTINA IS ALSO GROWING
By Climatologist Cliff Harris
Despite global warming claims, like the Hubbard Glacier in Alaska and glaciers in Norway, Argentina’s Perito Moreno Glacier is likewise "growing in size," according to the Center for Scientific Studies in Valdivia, Chile.
Every few years, Perito Moreno expands to touch a point of land across Lake Argentina, cutting the nation’s largest fresh water lake in half and forming an ‘ice dam’ as it presses against the shore.
The water on one side of the dam surges against the advancing glacier, which is up to 200 feet (60 meters) above lake level, until it breaks the ice wall with a ‘thunderous crash,’ drowning out the applause of hundreds of tourists.
These tourists view the glacier at a safe distance on cruise boats or on a wooden observation deck just beyond the glacier’s leading edge.
Perito Moreno’s jagged surface radiates a brilliant white ‘angelic hue’ in the strong Patagonian sun. Submerged portions of the huge glacier glow a deep blue, much like ice sheets in Antarctica. When the wind blows in a ‘translucent’ cloud cover, the three-mile-wide (5 kilometer) glacier seems to "glow from within" as the surrounding mountains and the nearby waters turn myriad shades of gray.
Nourished by heavy Andean snows, the Perito Moreno Glacier constantly grows even as it spawns icebergs "the size of apartment buildings" into frigid Lake Argentina. This glacier, despite frequent climate changes, has maintained nearly ‘a perfect equilibrium’ since measurements began more than a century ago.
"We’re not sure why this glacier seems to be immune from climate changes and is now growing again," said Andres Rivera, a glacialist with the Scientific Center.
When the ice comes crashing down, like it did in 1998 and 2008, it reminds observers that Perito Moreno is "a dynamic landscape that moves and crashes unexpectedly."
"This glacier has a lot of life," said Luli Gavina, who leads mini-treks across the glacier’s snow fields. She added, "it’s not going to melt away any time soon."
