South Patagonia Ice-Cap: a view from above

A beautiful image of a portion of the Ice-Cap, taken in March 2007 by NASA (file in public domain taken from Wikipedia).

We can tell the photo was taken around mid-morning because the teeth-like shadows of the mountains are projected on the flat surface of ice pointing roughly south-west. The height from which the photo was taken is undisclosed.

The denuded granitic intrusion that makes up the FitzRoy and Torre towers is at the lower left corner. The long glacier tongue extending to the right with a distinct medial moraine is Glaciar Chico flowing towards Lago O´Higgins.

The nature of the Ice-Cap can only be fathomed from above, as is portrayed in this image: the vast areas of featureless ice standing between seemingly isolated mountain groups indicate that relief below 1500 meters above sea level is buried under thick layers of ice.

Among the mountains rising "like islands in an ocean", the bulk of Volcán Lautaro (up to 3627 m high) stands out at the top of the photo, a little to the right of the center.

Future entries in this blog will deal with volcanic activity in the area, and with the heroic first crossing of the Ice-Cap, in 1951.