Southern Patagonian Icefield

After over a thousand years, deep blue glacial ice, tortured and stress fractured comes close to finishing its journey from the Southern Patagonin Ice field to Argentino Lake. Hard to comprehend the scale here but at its terminus the Perito Moreno Glacier has an average thickness of 170m (558ft); the contorted ripples on the surface are between 30 and 60 m (98 and 195 ft) high. This shot was taken at the peak of the midday sun. The extreme brightness of the ice, capable of causing snow blindness in a short period of time, has silhouetted out the sky. With a total area of 12,363 km2 (4,773 sq mi) of ice the Southern Patagonian Icefield is the third largest body of fresh water in the world (after the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets). With the planet warming up, the ice sheet is melting at an alarming rate and has retreated over 10km since the late 19th century. Argentina

Rob Downie
Love Life, Love Photography

_{All images in this post were taken by and remain the Copyright of Robert Downie - http://www.robertdowniephotography.com}