Colonia Glacier (Spanish: ''Glaciar Colonia'' or ''Ventisquero Colonia'') is a

valley glacier A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams ove ...

located in the

Northern Patagonian Ice Field The Northern Patagonian Ice Field, located in southern Chile, is the smaller of two remnant parts in which the Patagonian Ice Sheet in the Andes Mountains of southern South America can be divided. It is completely contained within the boundaries ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. The glacier spills out to the southeast from an ice plateau north of

Cerro Arenales Cerro Arenales is a heavily ice-covered stratovolcano located in the Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Region of Chile, within Laguna San Rafael National Park. It towers over the southern part of the Northern Patagonian Ice Field. ...

and has its

terminus Terminus may refer to: * Bus terminus, a bus station serving as an end destination * Terminal train station or terminus, a railway station serving as an end destination Geography *Terminus, the unofficial original name of Atlanta, Georgia, United ...

about from

Colonia Lake Colonia may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Colonia (music group), a Croatian dance music group * ''Colonia'' (Autopsia album), 2002 * ''Colonia'' (A Camp album), 2009 * ''Colonia'' (film), a 2015 historical romantic thriller Places *Colonia ...

. ''Colonia Glacier'' dams two lakes;

Cachet II In philately, a cachet is a printed or stamped design or inscription, other than a cancellation or pre-printed postage, on an envelope, postcard, or postal card to commemorate a postal or philatelic event. There are both official and private ( ...

and

Arco Lake ARCO ( ) is a brand of gasoline stations currently owned by Marathon Petroleum after BP sold its rights. BP commercializes the brand in Northern California, Oregon and Washington, while Marathon has rights for the rest of the United States and ...

. The ice dam containing the waters of Cachet II Lake fails regularly, which generates

glacial lake outburst flood A glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) is a type of outburst flood caused by the failure of a dam containing a glacial lake. An event similar to a GLOF, where a body of water contained by a glacier melts or overflows the glacier, is called a jö ...

s. On March 31, 2012, for the second time that year, virtually all of the 200 million cubic meters of water in Lake Cachet II were lost in less than 24 hours as a result of perforations in the glacial wall, a consequence of rising temperatures driven by climate change. The lake has drained 11 times since 2008 and experts predict it will increase in frequency.

References

Glaciers of Aysén Region {{Chile-glacier-stub