Argentina tourism. Bridge of ice in Perito Moreno glacier. Patagonia tours Argentina

Here in Los Glaciares Park, a huge ice tongue up to 700 meters high is slipping from the mountains. This is the great Perito Moreno, named after the explorer of this area Francisco Moreno. This jumble of huge blue ice floes lies on the border of the Argentine province of Santa Cruz and Chile. The fantastic natural monument of the Argentine part of Patagonia is only one of 48 glaciers fed by the southern part of the glacier located in the Andes.

If you're lucky, in Perito Moreno you can see the huge icy dam of Lake Argentino breaking through, on the opposite bank of which ice floes accumulate. This happens from once a year to once every ten years. Los Glaciares National Park, which contains a unique glacier, in 1981 was included in the UNESCO register of protected natural sites. There are bridges opposite the glacier, from where you can admire the glacier from different angles. Plus, boat trips are organized from Calafate or directly here, from the piers located right on the territory of the National Park.

Scientists say that by 2030, humanity may be waiting for a small ice age. A new study showed that between 2020 and 2030, solar cycles can cancel each other out, leading to a phenomenon known as the Maunder Minimum. A new model of solar activity, which was developed by scientists, shows a violation of 11-year cyclicity. It describes the special effects in the two layers of the Sun, due to which this star for some time will not be able to heat us as it has done for the past hundreds of years. According to experts, by 2030, solar activity will decline by 60 percent, which will lead to a small ice age. The Maunder minimum is the phenomenon of a long-term decrease in the number of sunspots, which has already occurred from 1645 to 1715. Then even the Thames River in London froze.

Glaciers are formed on the Earth's surface, provided that the amount of solid precipitation over the years has exceeded the amount of precipitation that can melt or evaporate. The line above which the snow that fell during the year does not have time to melt is called the snow line. The height of its location depends on the climatic features of the area. In the mountains located near the equator, the snow line is at an altitude of 4.5-5 thousand meters, and to the poles it drops to ocean level. Above the snow line from the accumulating and condensing snow glaciers are formed.

The glacier as a whole is unusually bright and sparkling, and in places of fresh cracks the color of the ice amazes with its unreal blue. The fascinating glaciers of Patagonia will not leave indifferent even the most avid traveler. Thousands of tourists with cameras gather here to film how icebergs break off from the glacier with a roar. These majestic glaciers survived from the time of the ice age, when they stretched far beyond their present borders and cut deep gorges during the movement.

The speed of the glacier is about 2 meters per day. That is, every day from somewhere out of the fog, two meters of fresh ice creeps. It is hard to imagine, but the glacier is really populated: numerous birds live here. Actually, the glacier itself can rightfully be called a living creature: its blocks crack, breathe, break away, and condensed water creates a fog near Perito Moreno, sometimes more like rain.

Glaciers are natural formations that are a collection of ice of atmospheric origin. On the surface of our planet, glaciers occupy more than 16 million square meters. km, that is, about 11% of the total land area, and their total volume reaches 30 million cubic kilometers. More than 99% of the total area of the Earth's glaciers belongs to the polar regions. However, glaciers can be seen even near the equator, but they are located on the tops of high mountains. For example, the highest peak of Africa - Mount Kilimanjaro - is crowned with a glacier, which is located not lower than 4500 m.

Over the past 2.6 million years, our planet has survived more than 50 ice ages, which alternated with warmer interglacial eras. The last ice age occurred on our planet 11,700 years ago, while the next is expected only after 50 thousand years. The ice age is a special time in the history of our planet, which during this period of time begins to experience a strong cooling of the climate, causing the expansion of the Earth's ice sheets. It is known that the ice ages are due to a complex and interconnected set of factors, which include both local influences, such as the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and global influences, which even include the position of the Earth in the solar system. Just a few centuries ago, scientists were able to decipher the "clues" hinting at past ice ages.

Scientists also believe that our planet enters and leaves the ice age every 100,000 years. This mysterious phenomenon, called the "100,000 Years Problem", has been happening regularly over the past million years and has led to the fact that gigantic ice covers North America, Europe and Asia. Until now, scientists had no idea how to explain this phenomenon. A new study showed that oceans, or rather the process of absorption of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in them, can be responsible for this change. By studying the chemical composition of tiny fossils at the bottom of the ocean, scientists found that more carbon dioxide accumulated in the depths of the ocean during the ice age than usual, and this happened at intervals of 100,000 years. Consequently, at the same time, additional carbon dioxide flowed from the atmosphere to the oceans, lowering the temperature on Earth and allowing huge plates of ice to absorb the northern hemisphere.

Seaweeds play a key role in removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, since this gas is an essential component of photosynthesis. Carbon dioxide returns to the atmosphere when deep ocean waters rise to the surface during the upwelling process, but if there is a lot of ice in the sea, it does not allow carbon dioxide to evaporate, ice plates become longer and the ice age is prolonged. A large amount of ice "cover" covers the ocean. Currently, the Earth's climate is in the golden middle between the ice ages. The last ice age ended about 11,000 years ago. Since then, temperature and sea level have risen, and ice caps have receded back to the poles. In addition to natural cycles, man-made carbon emissions also have an impact on global warming.

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