Upsala Glacier facts for kids
The Upsala Glacier is a huge valley glacier located on the eastern side of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field. Think of it as a giant river of ice! The higher parts of this glacier are in an area that Chile and Argentina both claim. The Upsala Glacier flows from north to south, and it has three smaller glaciers that feed into it from the east: Bertacchi, Cono, and Murallón.
The end of the Upsala Glacier, called its glacier terminus, reaches the Upsala channel of Lago Argentino (Lake Argentino). This glacier is famous for how quickly it is shrinking. Organizations like Greenpeace point to its rapid retreat as a sign of global warming. The glacier has been shrinking ever since it was first recorded in 1810.
What's in a Name?
The Upsala Glacier got its name from Uppsala University in Sweden. The university, located in Uppsala, helped fund the first studies of glaciers in this area. That's why it's called Upsala!
How the Glacier Has Changed
The Upsala Glacier kept shrinking almost constantly until 1999. In the twenty years before 1999, the ice started moving faster. This might have happened because the glacier moved past some islands in Brazo Upsala, which helped release pressure on the ice. Then, in 2008, the glacier started shrinking even faster. It was reported to be melting about 10 times quicker than it had in the eight years before that!
By 2018, the Upsala Glacier had shrunk so much that it no longer held back its smaller partner, the Bertacchi Glacier. This likely made the Bertacchi Glacier flow faster, causing it to stretch and become thinner in some places. The speed of the Bertacchi Glacier's flow is also thought to have increased because it was almost completely separated from the main Upsala Glacier.
- Upsala Glacier
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The Upsala Glacier from above
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A view from Lake Argentino
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Kayaking near the Upsala Glacier
See Also
- List of glaciers
- Retreat of glaciers since 1850
