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Glacial Thinning Rapidly Increases In South America
Image Caption: Glacier Outlet, Southern Patagonian Ice Field, Chile. Credit: NASA
Much has been said lately about Arctic ice melting at an alarming and record-breaking rate, but other ice fields are suffering the same effects of global warming as well.
For the last 40 years, scientists have monitored the growing and shrinking of the ice fields in the southern most stretch of South America’s Andes Mountains, detecting an overall ice loss as the climate warms.
A new study, published in the September 5 issue of Geophysical Research Letters, finds that the rate of glacial thinning has increased by about half over the last dozen years in the Southern Patagonian Icefield, compared to the 30 years prior to 2000.
The Southern Patagonian Icefield is located between Argentina and Chile in the Patagonian Andes. It is the world’s second largest contiguous extrapolar ice field.
more
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1112688385/southern-patagonian-icefield-melting-090612/
