Aysén Fjord is an ~70 km long

fjord In physical geography, a fjord (also spelled fiord in New Zealand English; ) is a long, narrow sea inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Antarctica, the Arctic, and surrounding landmasses of the n ...

stretching east from a skerry-guarded ( skjærgård) region called

Moraleda Channel Moraleda Channel () is a body of water separating the Chonos Archipelago from the mainland of Chile. It is located at , leading to Gulf of Corcovado. Southward from the mouth of the Aisén Fjord, Moraleda Channel divides into two arms. The eas ...

(), which is a body of water separating the

Chonos Archipelago The Chonos Archipelago is a series of low, mountainous, elongated islands with deep bays, traces of a submerged Chilean Coast Range. Most of the islands are forested with little or no human settlement. The deep Moraleda Channel separates the isl ...

from the mainland of

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

. It is located at and is connected indirectly to the open coast of the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

via the

Darwin Channel The Darwin Channel forms a westward continuation of the Aisén Fjord and links it to the Pacific Ocean at Isquiliac Island. It is located in the coast of Chile at approximately 45.4° south latitude. This is one of the main channels situated betw ...

. The Aysén River discharges at the head of Aysén Fjord.

Puerto Chacabuco Puerto Chacabuco is a Chilean town in Aisén commune. Administratively it belongs to Aysén Province in Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Region and is located at the head of Aisén Fjord. It is the main port of the region, a port of ...

is situated by the shores at the head of this fjord.

Puerto Aysén Puerto Aysén is a city of Chile located in the Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Region, above the head of Aisén Fjord in the country's extreme south. Puerto Aisén, which is the capital city of both the Aysén Province and the co ...

lies on the Aysén River approximately 4 km above the head of Aysén Fjord. It serves as the capital for the

Aysén Province Aysén Province () is one of four provinces of the Chilean region of Aysen (XI). Its capital is Puerto Aysén. Demographics The province had a 2002 population of 23,498 according to the census by the National Statistics Institute. Of these, 1 ...

. The region is heavily influenced by a wide tidal reach (up to 8 meters). It lies near the West Wind Drift, a major oceanic surface current which encounters the west coast of Chile at 41° S latitude. The West Wind Drift splits into the northward flowing branch which meets the

Humboldt Current The Humboldt Current, also called the Peru Current, is a cold, low-salinity ocean current that flows north along the western coast of South America.Montecino, Vivian, and Carina B. Lange. "The Humboldt Current System: Ecosystem components and pro ...

and the southward flowing Cape Horn Current, providing ample heat to drive vaporization of the sea water, which results in onshore precipitation of 4,000 – 7,000 mm per year in the Chilean Andes. The moisture is driven onshore by prevailing westerly winds, the

Roaring Forties The Roaring Forties are strong westerlies, westerly winds that occur in the Southern Hemisphere, generally between the latitudes of 40th parallel south, 40° and 50th parallel south, 50° south. The strong eastward air currents are caused by ...

. The fjord was explored by

Enrique Simpson Enrique Simpson Baeza (Valparaíso, 1835–Valparaíso, May 17, 1901) was a Chilean Navy officer and explorer. Simpson mapped the archipelagoes and coast of Aysén Region onboard of the corvette ''Chacabuco'' in the 1870s. Among his feats is the re ...

in 1870 in the ''

Chacabuco Chacabuco is one of the many abandoned nitrate or "saltpeter" towns ("oficinas salitreras" in Spanish) in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. Other nitrate towns of the Atacama Desert include Humberstone and Santa Laura Saltpeter Works. Unlik ...

'' who discovering its usfullness to access more inland locations.Simpson, E. (1874). ''Esploraciones hechas por la Corbeta Chacabuco al mando del capitán de fragata don Enrique M. Simpson en los Archipiélagos de Guaitecas, Chonos i Taitao''.

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

. Imprenta Nacional. From the 1990s up to August 2003 there were plans for building an aluminium smelter in the Puerto Chacabuco at the fjord's head. The project was opposed by salmon farm companies operating in the fjord for the water pollution they claimed the smelter would produce. Between January 22 and April 22, 2007, the area around the fjord experienced a series of minor earthquakes.

References

Fjords of Chile Bodies of water of Aysén Region {{Aysén-geo-stub