ABSTRACT. The first satellite-derived inventory of glaciers and rock glaciers in Chile, created from Landsat TM/ETM+ images spanning between 2000 and 2003 using a semi-automated procedure, is presented in a single standardized format. Large glacierized areas in the Altiplano, Palena Province and the periphery of the Patagonian icefields are inventoried. The Chilean glacierized area is 23 708 ± 1185 km 2 , including ∼3200 km 2 of both debris-covered glaciers and rock glaciers. Glacier distribution varies as a result of climatic gradients with latitude and elevation, with 0.8% occurring in the Desert Andes (17°30′-32°S); 3.6% in the Central Andes (32-36°S), 6.2% in the Lakes District and Palena Province (36-46°S), and 89.3% in Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego (46-56°S).Glacier outlines, across all glacierized regions and size classes, updated to 2015 using Landsat 8 images for 98 complexes indicate a decline in areal extent affecting mostly clean-ice glaciers (−92.3 ± 4.6 km 2 ), whereas debris-covered glaciers and rock glaciers in the Desert and Central Andes appear nearly unchanged in their extent. Glacier attributes estimated from this new inventory provide valuable insights into spatial patterns of glacier shrinkage for assessing future glacier changes in response to climate change.

No abstract

No abstract

The timing, structure, and landscape change during the Patagonian Ice Sheet deglaciation remains unresolved. In this article, we provide a geomorphic, stratigraphic, and geochronological deglacial record of Río Cisnes Glacier at 44°S and also from the nearby Río Ñirehuao and Río El Toqui valleys (45°S) in Chilean Patagonia. Our 14C, 10Be, and optically stimulated luminescence data indicate that after the last glacial maximum, Río Cisnes Glacier experienced ~100 km deglaciation between >19.0 and 12.3 ka, accompanied by the formation of large glacial paleolakes. Deglaciation was interrupted by several ice readvances, and by 16.9±0.3 ka, Río Cisnes Glacier extended only ~40% of its full glacial extent. The deglaciation of Río Cisnes Glacier and other sensitive Patagonian glaciers occurred at least 1 ka earlier than the ca. 17.8 ka normally assumed for the local termination, coincident with West Antarctic isotope records. This early deglaciation can be linked to an orbital forcing–driven decline of Southern Ocean sea ice associated with a distinct atmospheric warming that is apparent for West Antarctica through Patagonia.