Fast-flowing outlet glaciers of the Last Glacial Maximum

• Main Authors: Patagonian Icefield, Neil F. Glasser, Krister N. Jansson
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Ice Sheet
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.583.3553; http://cadair.aber.ac.uk/dspace/bitstream/handle/2160/3911/-Fast flowing outlet glaciers.pdf;jsessionid=272DB745536A4A79A1A006F103E2CB68?sequence=1

Glacial geomorphology around the Northern Patagonian Icefield indicates that a number of fast-flowing outlet glaciers (the continuation of ice streams further upglacier) drained the icefield during the Last Glacial Maximum. These topographically controlled fast-flowing glaciers may have dictated the overall pattern of Last Glacial Maximum ice discharge, lowered the ice-surface profile, and forced the ice-divide westward. The influence of the fast-flowing outlet glaciers on icefield behavior also helps to explain why the configuration of the Patagonian Icefield at the Last Glacial Maximum is not accurately represented in existing numerical ice-sheet models. Fast-flowing outlet glaciers would have strongly influenced ice discharge patterns and therefore partially decoupled the icefield from climatically induced changes in thickness and extent. The Northern Patagonian Icefield The Northern Patagonian Icefield, covering an area of 4200 km2, is situated in Chile, South America (Aniya, 1988). Its existence in temperate latitudes (47°S) is sustained by abundant precipitation over the icefield (2 to 11 m of water equivalent per yr) generated as the