The glaciers of Chile cover 2.7% (20,188 km²) of the land area of the country, excluding Antártica Chilena, and have a considerable impact on its landscape and water supply. By surface 80% of South America's glaciers lie in Chile. Glaciers develop in the

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

of Chile from 27˚S southwards and in a very few places north of 18°30'S in the extreme north of the country:Climate change and tropical Andean glaciers: Past, present and future
in between they are absent because of extreme aridity, though

rock glacier Rock glaciers are distinctive geomorphological landforms, consisting either of angular rock debris frozen in interstitial ice, former "true" glaciers overlain by a layer of talus, or something in-between. Rock glaciers are normally found at high ...

s formed from

permafrost Permafrost is ground that continuously remains below 0 °C (32 °F) for two or more years, located on land or under the ocean. Most common in the Northern Hemisphere, around 15% of the Northern Hemisphere or 11% of the global surface ...

are common. The largest glaciers of Chile are the

Northern Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ra ...

and

Southern Patagonian Ice Field The Southern Patagonian Ice Field ( es, Hielo Continental or '), located at the Southern Patagonic Andes between Chile and Argentina, is the world's second largest contiguous extrapolar ice field. It is the bigger of two remnant parts of the Pat ...

s. From a latitude of 47° S and south some glaciers reach sea level. Apart from height and latitude, the settings of Chilean glaciers depend on precipitation patterns; in this sense two different regions exist: the

Dry Andes file:Andes_clima.png, 200px, Map of the climatic regions of the Andes. The Dry Andes are shown in yellow. The Tropical Andes are shown in green and the Wet Andes in dark blue. The Dry Andes ( es, Andes áridos) is a climatic and glaciology, glaciol ...

and the

Wet Andes file:Andes_clima.png, 200px, Map of the climatic regions of the Andes. The Wet Andes are shown in dark blue. The Dry Andes are shown in yellow and the Tropical Andes in green. The Wet Andes ( es, Andes húmedos) is a climatic and glaciology, glacio ...

List of ice fields

This is a list of the

ice field An ice field (also spelled icefield) is a mass of interconnected valley glaciers (also called mountain glaciers or alpine glaciers) on a mountain mass with protruding rock ridges or summits. They are often found in the colder climates and highe ...

s of Chile. {, class="wikitable sortable" !valign="bottom" align="left", Name !valign="bottom" align="right", Area
(km²) !valign="bottom" align="left",

Region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

s of

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 ...

!valign="bottom" align="left",

Coordinates In geometry, a coordinate system is a system that uses one or more numbers, or coordinates, to uniquely determine the position of the points or other geometric elements on a manifold such as Euclidean space. The order of the coordinates is sig ...

, - ,

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 ...

, , align="right", 4,200 , , Aisén , , align="right", , - ,

, , align="right", 14,200 (of 16,800) , , Aisén and Magallanes , , align="right", , - ,

Cordillera Darwin The Cordillera Darwin is an extensive mountain range mantled by an ice field that is located in Chile. Description Cordillera Darwin is located in the southwestern portion of Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, entirely within the Chilean territory. ...

, , align="right", 2,300 , , Magallanes , , align="right", , - ,

Gran Campo Nevado The Gran Campo Nevado is a small ice field located in the southern portion of the Muñoz Gamero Peninsula, in Chile. It is about in area and feeds 19 outlet glaciers, of which the largest one is long. See also *Monte Burney *Riesco Island *Strait ...

, , align="right", 200 , , Magallanes , , align="right", , - ,

Grandes Ventisqueros Grandes may refer to: *Agustín Muñoz Grandes, Spanish general and politician *Banksia ser. Grandes, a series of plant species native to Australia * Grandes y San Martín, a municipality located in the province of Ávila, Castile and León, Spain ...

, , align="right", , , Magallanes , , align="right",

List of glaciers

North

* Tapado Glacier * Tronquitos Glacier

Center

* Universidad Glacier *

Cipreses Glacier Cipreses is a district of the Oreamuno canton, in the Cartago province of Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American ...

San Francisco Glacier The San Francisco Glacier is a glacier in Monumento Natural El Morado Natural Park a hundred kilometers away from Santiago, Chile Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of th ...

Esmeralda Glacier Esmeralda may refer to: Places * Esmeralda, Chile, a town in Chile * Esmeralda, Cuba * Esmeralda, Queensland, a locality in the Shire of Croydon, Australia * Esmeralda, Rio Grande do Sul, a municipality in Brazil * Esmeralda County, Nevada, US ...

Juncal Norte Glacier Location Nevado Juncal is a mountain at the border of Argentina and Chile, at the head of Aconcagua Val. It has a height of . It's located at La Yesera, Los Andes Department, Valparaíso Region, at the Central Andes. The mountain hosts sever ...

South

Garibaldi Glacier Giuseppe Maria Garibaldi ( , ;In his native Ligurian language, he is known as ''Gioxeppe Gaibado''. In his particular Niçard dialect of Ligurian, he was known as ''Jousé'' or ''Josep''. 4 July 1807 – 2 June 1882) was an Italian general, pat ...

Schiaparelli Glacier Schiaparelli may refer to: * Schiaparelli (surname), Italian surname * Schiaparelli (fashion house), founded by Elsa Schiaparelli and later revived Astronomy * Schiaparelli (lunar crater), a relatively small crater in the LQ10 (Seleucus) quadran ...

Balmaceda Glacier Balmaceda may refer to: *The Balmaceda family, politically influential family of Chile, including: ** José Manuel Balmaceda, former president of Chile ** José Rafael Balmaceda, politician and diplomat * ''Balmaceda'' (spider), a genus of jumpi ...

* Tyndall Glacier or Geike Glacier *

Grey Glacier Grey Glacier is a glacier in the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, just west of the Cordillera del Paine. It flows southward into the lake of the same name. Before dividing in two at its front end, the glacier is 6 kilometers wide and over 30 met ...

Amalia Glacier Amalia Glacier, also known as Skua Glacier, is a tidewater glacier located in Bernardo O'Higgins National Park on the edge of the Sarmiento Channel. The glacier originates in the Southern Patagonian Ice Field. From 1945 to 1986, its terminus retre ...

* Dickson Glacier * Ameghino Glacier * Speghazzini Glacier *

Upsala Glacier The Upsala Glacier is a large valley glacier on the eastern side of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field. Its higher portion lies in a disputed territory between Chile and Argentina. While the glacier flows from north to south it has three lesser eas ...

Viedma Glacier Viedma Glacier is a large glacier that is part of the huge Southern Patagonian Ice Field, located at the southern end of mainland South America. Viedma Glacier is a valley glacier and its moraine-rich terminus flows into the western end of Lake ...

Brüggen Glacier Brüggen Glacier, also known as Pío XI Glacier, is in southern Chile and is the largest western outflow from the Southern Patagonian Ice Field. Now about in length, it is the longest glacier in the southern hemisphere outside Antarctica.In th ...

or Pío XI Glacier * Chico Glacier *

O'Higgins Glacier O'Higgins Glacier is a glacier located in Bernardo O'Higgins National Park, Chile. It is one of the principal glaciers of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field. The summit of the active Lautaro volcano is the top of the accumulation zone of the glacie ...

* Tempano Glacier * Ofhidro Glacier *

Jorge Montt Glacier Jorge Montt Glacier is a tidewater glacier located in the Aisén Region of Chile, south of the town of Caleta Tortel. It lies at the north end of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, within Bernardo O'Higgins National Park. The mouth of Pascua Rive ...

Steffen Glacier Steffen Glacier is a major outlet glacier of the Northern Patagonian Ice Field in Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Region of Chile. It is the southernmost outlet glacier of the Northern Patagonian Ice Field and ends up in a lagoon from ...

Colonia Glacier Colonia Glacier (Spanish: ''Glaciar Colonia'' or ''Ventisquero Colonia'') is a valley glacier located in the Northern Patagonian Ice Field, Chile. The glacier spills out to the southeast from an ice plateau north of Cerro Arenales and has its ter ...

Nef Glacier Nef Glacier is a glacier located in Laguna San Rafael National Park, in the Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Region of Chile. It trends southeast from Cerro Largo to its terminus in the lake that shared its name. It is the fifth large ...

* Soler Glacier *

San Quintín Glacier The San Quintín Glacier is the largest outflow glacier of the Northern Patagonian Ice Field in southern Chile. Its terminus is a piedmont lobe just short of the Gulf of Penas on the Pacific Ocean and just north of 47°S. Recent retreat Like many ...

San Rafael Glacier The San Rafael Glacier is one of the major outlet glaciers of the Northern Patagonian Ice Field in southern Chile and is the tidewater glacier nearest the equator. It calves into the Laguna San Rafael and is contained within Laguna San Rafael Nat ...

* Gualas Glacier * Hudson Volcano * Michinmahuida Volcano * Blanco Chico Glacier * Casa Pangue Glacier * Villarrica Glacier *

Bernardo Glacier Bernardo Glacier is one of the largest glaciers in the Southern Patagonian Ice Field. It is located northeast of Témpano Glacier, within Bernardo O'Higgins National Park in Chile. The glacier flows westward Bernardo Fjord. References

Glac ...

(Following Glaciers aren't in the list of http://www.glaciologia.cl) * Alemania Glacier * Darwin Glacier * Exploradores Glacier * Francia Glacier *

* Holanda Glacier * Italia Glacier * La Paloma Glacier * Leones Glacier * Los Perros Glacier *

Marinelli Glacier Marinelli Glacier is a tidewater glacier located in Alberto de Agostini National Park, Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego. The glacier spills out from the backbone of the Cordillera Darwin and calves into Ainsworth Bay, an embayment of the Almiranta ...

Mocho-Choshuenco Mocho-Choshuenco (Pronounced: ) is a glacier covered compound stratovolcano in the Andes of Los Ríos Region, Chile. It is made of the twin volcanoes Choshuenco in the northwest and the Mocho in the southeast. The highest parts of the volcan ...

Patagonian Ice Sheet upright=1.4, Map showing the extent of the Patagonian Ice Sheet in the Strait of Magellan area during the last glacial period. Selected modern settlements are shown with yellow dots. Sea level was much lower than shown here. The Patagonian Ice S ...

† * Pingo Glacier * Queulat Glacier *

Romanche Glacier Romanche Glacier is a glacier located in Alberto de Agostini National Park, Chile. A cascade from the glacier tumbles into the Beagle Channel Beagle Channel (; Yahgan: ''Onašaga'') is a strait in the Tierra del Fuego Archipelago, on the ext ...

Serrano Glacier Serrano may refer to: People * Serrano people, a Native American tribe of Southern California * Serrano language, the language spoken by the Serrano people *Serrano (surname), people with the surname Serrano Places *Serrano, Lecce, an Italian to ...

* Stoppani Glacier * Yelcho Glacier

External links

Chilean glacier inventory
at Glaciologia.cl of Andrés Rivera {{Authority control

Glaciers A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as ...