The Alvear Glacier, located in Tierra del Fuego, has experienced an 80% surface retreat in just 124 years, specialists warn.
This process was documented by the Faculty of Agronomy of UBA (FAUBA), an entity that warned that its melting is irreversible.
This news arises in a context of alert in Argentina, as the government led by Javier Milei is pushing a bill in Congress to relax the Glacier Law.
If approved, it would pave the way to facilitate mining and hydrocarbon exploitation in glacial and periglacial zones.
According to FAUBA’s analysis, climate change is the main culprit for the retreat of the Alvear Glacier, which has been accelerating year by year since 1970.
In particular, until that year, the ice mass was losing one hectare per year; however, afterward, the rate climbed to 3.5 hectares annually.
Researcher Anneris Stieben, author of the study, was direct: “The retreat process is irreversible: unless a new glaciation occurs—which we can rule out in the short term—the Alvear Glacier’s days are numbered.”
The Alvear Glacier also shortened by 50%: it went from 2.3 km to 1.1 km in length. The maximum retreat occurred between 1999 and 2004, with 62 meters per year.
A changing landscape due to the retreat of the Alvear Glacier
In recent years, the retreat of the Alvear Glacier has even transformed the surroundings. The most severe event was the definitive disappearance of Las Cuevas del Alvear, a tourist and cultural attraction for the Fuegian community, before 2019.
However, the same process generated something new: the Laguna Celeste, a new mountain attraction.
“This lagoon exists because the Alvear glacier, by melting in its retreat, filled the rocky cavity it had excavated“, explained Stieben.
The landscape, therefore, not only loses: it also transforms. But this transformation has an environmental and social cost that cannot be ignored.
What is needed to protect glaciers
In light of this scenario, specialists point out concrete and urgent measures. Stieben listed the priorities:
- Strengthen the legal framework and resist modifications to the National Glacier Law.
- Update the National Glacier Inventory, a task in progress but with limited resources.
- Monitor smaller glaciers at the provincial level, as Tierra del Fuego already does with the Martial and Vinciguerra.
- Redefine future availability of water resources to ensure supply and prevent flooding.
- Integrate urban planning with water management, especially in cities like Ushuaia.
The researcher emphasized that updating inventories is not enough. “The future availability of water resources must be redefined, both to ensure downstream supply and to develop contingency plans,” she stated.
The political context adds additional pressure: the Argentine government is considering modifying the National Glacier Law, which represents, according to Stieben, “a latent risk for the preservation of these environments.”
The study also points to tools such as Integrated Water Resources Management Plans, instruments that balance the economic, ecological, and social aspects at the basin level.
Argentina has nearly 8,500 km² of ice in the Andes and the South Atlantic Islands. This system, equivalent to 42 times the city of Buenos Aires, is documented in retreat.
Stieben concluded with a concrete proposal: “My idea is to address how to manage the disappearance of glaciers in the urban area of Ushuaia, with a vision of adaptive and resilient urban planning.”
Source: Faculty of Agronomy of the University of Buenos Aires (FAUBA)
