Laguna San Rafael National Park () is a park located on the Pacific coast of southern Chile. The park is named for the

San Rafael Lagoon San Rafael Lake is an arc-shaped coastal lake located in the Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Region of Chile, within the national park that bears its name. To the north the lagoon is connected to the Moraleda Channel, to the south l ...

formed by the retreat of the San Rafael Glacier. Created in 1959, it covers an area of and includes the Northern Patagonian Ice Field. A fjord more than long is one of the park's principal attractions.

History

Non-indigenous people first explored the area of Laguna San Rafael in the year 1675. The glacier of the same name was a land-terminating glacier during that time. It probably reached again the lagoon at some time between 1741 and 1766, and it has been a tidewater glacier since that date. The park was designated a World Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 1979.UNESCO
- Park description at UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve

Geography

The park comprises some of the higher Andes mountains of Patagonia, such as the

Monte San Valentín Monte San Valentin, also known as Monte San Clemente, is the highest mountain in Chilean Patagonia and the highest mountain south of 37°S outside Antarctica. It stands at the north end of the North Patagonian Icefield. Monte San Valentin ca ...

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. ...

, Cerro Hyades and

Cerro Pared Norte Cerro Pared Norte is a mountain located in the Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Region of Chile. It lies on the Northern Patagonian Ice Field, at the center of a mountain ridge with steep slopes and sheer cliffs, at whose southern ...

. This park contains a number of rivers. San Tadeo River is located in the

Isthmus of Ofqui The Isthmus of Ofqui is a narrow isthmus that connects the Taitao Peninsula with the Chilean mainland. The isthmus is bounded in the south by the Gulf of Penas, in the north by the San Rafael Lagoon, in the west by the Taitao Peninsula and in the e ...

and flows into San Quintín Bay in the north part of the Gulf of Penas. Also there are various rivers bordering the park, such as the Baker River and the Exploradores River. Témpanos River (not really a river) connects San Rafael Lagoon with the Gulf Elefantes, the southern part of Moraleda Channel.

Presidente Ríos Lake Presidente Ríos Lake () is located in the Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Region of Chile. It lies in the middle of the Taitao Peninsula. While the lake's existence only became known in Chile in 1945, it appears to have been known ...

spans the border between the park and

Las Guaitecas National Reserve Las Guaitecas National Reserve is a national reserve of southern 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, o ...

Climate

Average annual rainfall at Cabo Raper (lat 46°50' S.), on the open coast of the Taitao Peninsula, is about . Going eastward, the amount of precipitation increases in the sheltered areas of the Chilean Inside Passage, being similar to that of Los Lagos Region. The average annual precipitation recorded between 1981 and 1985 at Laguna San Rafael weather station (lat 46°37' S.) was . At higher elevations, the precipitation increase is significant and is in the form of snow on the Northern Patagonian Ice Field, being recorded over of annual precipitation.

Biology

As above-noted, the park is a World Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO. Several species of birds find shelter in the park, including black-browed albatrosses, great grebes, black-necked swans and

cormorant Phalacrocoracidae is a family of approximately 40 species of aquatic birds commonly known as cormorants and shags. Several different classifications of the family have been proposed, but in 2021 the IOC adopted a consensus taxonomy of seven ge ...

s. Terrestrial and marine wildlife in this area also include South American gray fox,

South Andean deer The south Andean deer (''Hippocamelus bisulcus''), also known as the southern guemal, south Andean huemul, southern huemul, or Chilean ''huemul'' or '' güemul'' ( , ), is an endangered species of deer native to the mountains of Argentina and Chi ...

, Chilean dolphins,

South American sea lion The South American sea lion (''Otaria flavescens'', formerly ''Otaria byronia''), also called the southern sea lion and the Patagonian sea lion, is a sea lion found on the western and southeastern coasts of South America. It is the only member ...

s, marine otters, southern elephant seals, and so on. Baleen whales migrate into Gulf of Penas, and it is notable that the gulf is possibly a wintering/calving ground for the critically endangered population of

Southern Right Whale The southern right whale (''Eubalaena australis'') is a baleen whale, one of three species classified as right whales belonging to the genus ''Eubalaena''. Southern right whales inhabit oceans south of the Equator, between the latitudes of 20 ...

.Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Zonas Áridas (CEAZA), 2021,
Encuentran refugio de crianza de ballena franca austral en la Patagonia chilena
'

References

{{Authority control Biosphere reserves of Chile Protected areas established in 1959 Protected areas of Aysén Region National parks of Chile Taitao Peninsula 1959 in Chilean law

History

Geography

Climate

Biology

See also

References