The Perito Moreno glacier in Argentina retreats 910 meters in 100 days

The famous Patagonian glacier Perito Moreno, in Argentina, is in danger. In just 100 days, between February and June, its front retreated 910 meters from the coast where the spectacular ice dam that characterizes it historically forms.

The threshold exceeds the retreat of 750 meters recorded in 1899 by the German geologist Rudolf Hauthal and a recent study confirms the acceleration of an unprecedented recession process.

This is what emerged from a survey carried out jointly by the glacier interpretation centre, Glaciarium, together with experts from the Los Glaciares National Park.

The results cause alarm as Perito Moreno was considered one of the few glaciers in the world still "stable" and "in balance", i.e. capable of regenerating in winter the mass lost during the summer and autumn seasons.

One of the main factors that is causing the acceleration of glacier degradation, the study states, is "the thinning and retreat of the subglacial ridge that served as an anchor point stabilizing the front."

The increase in the contact surface between ice and water, it is also underlined, "favors underwater melting and the calving of large blocks", triggering a process that risks being irreversible.