Warming climate, volcanos raise risk of ice falls on Chile’s glaciers

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SANTIAGO (Reuters) -Chile’s glaciers are facing a higher risk of collapse and landslides due to rising temperatures and the country’s seismic and volcanic activity, according to an academic study.

The study, published in the Journal of South American Earth Sciences in late May, modeled variables such as the possible sudden emptying of glacial lakes, mud and debris flows, avalanches, landslides, or abrupt glacial advances beyond normal speeds.

“The study determined that around 10 glaciers … would be highly susceptible” to one or more of those main destabilizing factors, said geologist Felipe Ugalde of the University of Chile, one of the study’s authors. 

That included some glaciers at risk of ice avalanches, others that had steep overhangs, and some that could be affected by declining glacial lakes. Others faced risk from volcanic eruptions in the nation that sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” a belt of volcanos and earthquakes.

“Three highly susceptible glaciers are those closest to the main emission centers of the San José volcano, highly susceptible to lahars,” Ugalde said, referring to volcanic mud flows that are usually a mix of water, volcanic ash, and rock debris.

The geologist added that glaciers globally were retreating amid warming temperatures,  causing them to lose mass and become less stable over time.

“When temperatures are high, water infiltrates either through rain or through rapid melting of the snowpack. This water percolates into the base of the glacier and acts as a lubricant,” Ugalde said, adding this could cause ice to fall off more rapidly in a natural process called calving.

“This is ultimately a response to the imbalance that glaciers are experiencing as a result of increasingly higher average air temperatures, even in high mountain environments,” he said.

(Reporting by Reuters TV; Writing by Fabian Cambero; Editing by Adam Jourdan and Rod Nickel)