How Glaciers are Shrinking

Mt. Morrudo is located in Patagonia; over the past 30 years or so its glacier has been disappearing, and that can be seen in pictures.

Indeed, during less than a human lifetime the Morrudo glacier, as well as many others - just in Argentina there are several thousands - has significantly decreased. Located in a rather isolated spot, with few human visitors each year, the ice cap of the 2070m high mountain, nevertheless, is becoming a thing of the past.

At the present rate, in a few more decades, many glaciers such as this one will melt completely, causing severe changes in the rivers and streams that feed from the ice, with subsequent changes and possibly desertification along the valleys downstream.

Part of the glacier as it looked in early 1984

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