Scientists thought this Argentine glacier was stable: Now they say it's melting fast

An iconic Argentinian glacier, long thought one of the few on Earth to be relatively stable, is now undergoing its “most substantial retreat in the past century,” according to new research.

- By MELINA WALLING

The Perito Moreno Glacier in the Southern Patagonian Ice Field for decades has been wedged securely in a valley. But it's started losing contact with the bedrock below, causing it to shed more ice as it inches backward. It's a change, illustrated in dramatic timelapse photos since 2020, that highlights “the fragile balance of one of the most well-known glaciers worldwide," wrote the authors of the study in the journal Communications Earth and Environment.

They expect it to retreat several more kilometers in the next few years.