*Perito Moreno Glacier- Calafate-Patagonia
Hundreds of tourists and locals who invade into the gateways of Los Glaciares National Park not leave their astonishment. The impending breakup of the Perito Moreno glacier, one of the most moving spectacles of nature, generates a great surprise and anxiety in El Calafate despite the cold and rainy day.
“The process is in advance, could collapse at any moment, but only nature knows this, we must expect” the National Park mayor Carlos Corvalan said today.
The collapse of the bridge of ice will not be seen as on previous occasions by thousands of tourists, since at this time of year there is only one daily flight from Buenos Aires to El Calafate. However, the phenomenon can be followed online at http://www.lupacorp.com/glaciar/index.php page.
The process began on Friday morning, when a fissure in the ice dam that separates the Ice Floe’s Canal and the left arm Rico stopped filtering the first drops of water, which had achieved an unevenness level of almost 9 meters between the two lakes.
While the recent breaks in -1988, 2004 and 2006 - occurred in February and March, which coincides with a time of high temperature for the region, the current phenomenon surprises in the middle of winter, although there was a similar precedent in July of 1951.
The final break, with the total collapse of the bridge ice, occurred in the early hours of March 14, 2006, when about 10,000 people visited the place during the process.
With a total area of 195 square kilometers and a front part 50 to 70 meters high, consists of glacier ice masses in continued displacement of momentum due to gravity. This movement is caused by the removal of ice by melting, evaporation or formation of icebergs.
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Monday, July 7th, 2008 at 3:05 pm under
