One of the most expected attractions by tourists while sailing across the Patagonian channels on board of Cruceros Australis are the glaciers. The beauty and the huge magnitude of these crystallized waters are part of the outlook selected for our expectant travelers.
Glaciers are part of the purest and most natural landscapes around the world. They are enormous walls of recrystallized ice and pieces of rocks. Their bluish color and almost 40 meters of height remind us that nature has always something to surprise us with.
Currently, glaciers cover around 10% of the Earth surface and store approx. 33 million cubic kilometers of fresh water, which contribute to the regulation of ocean’s average level. During glacier areas, sea level goes down, while during hottest periods, continental ices melt, and sea level rises around the globe.
Its unique somewhat blue color it’s the result of an optical effect: the sun light that falls on the ice is white and it separates into three main colors (red, green and blue). Ice mainly absorbs red colored waves, which gives rise to the apparent blue color of ice.
Worldwide, most glaciers are in the retreat period or equilibrium, but there are glaciers that are still advancing in Alaska, Greenland, Himalayas and in Chile, Pio XI glacier, close to Puerto Edén. The most certain theory on the retreat of glaciers refers to the Earth’s global warming, which involves a significant increase of temperature and fastest deicing activity.
Glacier ice is formed during winter time due to the accumulation of snow that starts being compressed. Its hexagonal crystals start deforming due to compaction, releasing the air and giving crystals a more granular like shape. Then, the second stage of the snow begins, which is called névé. As new layers of snow build up, they undergo further compaction and become glacial ice.
The formation period of glaciers varies greatly between glaciers, from a dozen years in template glaciers to hundreds of years in cold glaciers in the Antarctica. Opposite to what one might think, the more template the glacier the faster ice builds up. That’s because snow crystal needs moderate temperatures (over 0 degrees) to start fusing until becoming glacial ice. In the Antarctica, temperature is so low that compaction of snow crystals is much more slow.
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Monumento Patagonias: http://www.patagonia-chile.com/
Images in Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=+glaciar+-+patagonia&m=text
Videos at Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=patagonia+glacier&search=Search
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