(Appendix) Recent surface areas and historical lengths of glaciers from Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, South America ...

• Main Authors: Lopez, Paulina, Chevallier, Pierre, Favier, Vincent, Pouyaud, Bernard, Ordenes, Fernando, Oerlemans, Johannes
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2010
• Subjects: ipy; Event label; Glacier; Area/locality; Area; Length; LATITUDE; LONGITUDE; Comment; Ice survey; International Polar Year 2007-2008 IPY; International Polar Year; IPY; Tierra del Fuego
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.786241; https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.786241

Fluctuations in the length of 72 glaciers in the Northern and Southern Patagonia Icefield (NPI and SPI, respectively) and the Cordillera Darwin Icefield (CDI) were estimated between 1945 and 2005. The information obtained from historical maps based on 1945 aerial photographs was compared to ASTER and Landsat satellite images and to information found in the literature. The majority of glaciers have retreated considerably, with maximum values of 12.2 km for Marinelli Glacier in the CDI, 11.6 km for O'Higgins Glacier in the SPI and 5.7 km for San Rafael Glacier in the NPI.Among the 20 glaciers that have retreated the most relative to their size, small (less than 50 km**2) and medium (between 50 and 200 km**2) glaciers are the most affected. However, no direct relation between glacier retreat and size was found for the 72 glaciers studied. The highest percentage retreat in the CDI was by the CDI-03 Glacier (37.9%) and Marinelli Glacier (37.6%). In the SPI, relative retreats were heterogeneous and fluctuated ... : In the framework of this study, every glacier length was calculated according to five criteria in the following order: (1) glacier length is represented by a line which corresponds to the longest distance followed by the glacier; (2) the length was measured from the lowest to the highest point of the glacier; (3) the origin is the central position of the glacier's front; (4) the length/distance follows the central position of the glacier tongue and; and (5) the length follows surface flow trajectories if they are identifiable on the satellite image. Criteria 1, 2 and 3 were respected for every glacier, while the application of criteria 4 and 5 depended on the glacier's shape and surface characteristics. Data extracted in the frame of a joint ICSTI/PANGAEA IPY effort, see http://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.150150 ...