Viedma glacier terminus since 1985

Viedma Glacier is an iconic glacier of the Southern Patagonia icefield. Landsat 5, Landsat 8 and Sentinel-2 images series show that its terminus has retreated by 3 km since 1985.

Viedma glacier terminus evolution

Looking closer one can notice a new proglacial lake forming in a recently deglaciated area.

Since I won 80 sq km of Airbus Pléiades data, I ordered 3 sq km of a Pléiades image captured on Feb 05, 2021 to estimate that the area of the neo-lake should be between 0.3 and 0.4 sq km.

Pléiades 2021-02-05 © Airbus DS

But the images also show the disappearance of a formerly ice-dammed lake in the south..

Image

This place is very interesting to study as many periglacial processes are exacerbated by climate change. Yet, Viedma glacier front will never look the same without its curved stretch of ice…

You can look at the images here. And make your own gif from 35 years of satellite imagery in the Sentinel Hub EO Browser.

Plus d'actualités

Dates de fauche en France

En 2024, des collègues du Cesbio ont publié un article* sur la cartographie de la date de fauche en France en 2022 à partir des données satellitaires Sentinel-2.   Leur magnifique figure 10 a attiré mon attention. La version à haute résolution fournie avec l’article (2861 × 2911 pixels) correspond à une image dont les pixels font […]

Évolution du jour de déneigement dans les Alpes françaises et les Pyrénées

Les socio-écosystèmes des Alpes et des Pyrénées dépendent étroitement des fluctuations annuelles du manteau neigeux. En particulier, le moment de l’année où la neige disparait détermine le début de la saison de croissance de la végétation de montagne et donc la période des estives. Le changement climatique est en train de bouleverser ce rythme saisonnier. […]

BIOMASS, the third launched satellite mission designed at CESBIO !

After SMOS in 2009, and VENµS in 2017, the CESBIO laboratory is very proud to see its third proposed mission, Biomass, reach orbit. As always, it has been a long journey from the idea, at the beginning of the century, to the selection in 2013 as the seventh Earth Explorer Mission by ESA, to the […]

Rechercher