Portal:Latin America/Featured picture/Week 35, 2006

Photo credit:Boudjnah

The Southern Patagonia Ice Field is the third biggest extension of continental ice after the Antarctica and Greenland, located at the Southern Patagonic Andes between Chile and Argentina, and part of the Patagonian Ice Sheet.

It extends from parallels 48º20'S to 51º30' for approximately 350 kilometres, and has an area of 16,800 km², of which 14,200 km² belong to Chile, and 2,600 km² to Argentina.

The ice field was first studied in 1943 by aereal photographies made by the United States' Air Force on request of the Chilean government. Later explorations include the expeditions of Federico Reichert and Alberto de Agostini, but the field remains largely unexplored.