What is the largest glacier in Patagonia by area?

The largest glacier in Patagonia by area is Pío XI Glacier.

Also called Bruggen Glacier, Pío XI descends from the Southern Patagonian Ice Field in Chile’s Magallanes Region. Its area is commonly given at about 1,265 square kilometers, making it the largest glacier in the Southern Hemisphere outside Antarctica and the longest glacier in that region.

Pío XI is unusual because, unlike many nearby Patagonian glaciers, it has shown periods of advance rather than simple retreat. Its ice flows toward the fjords of Bernardo O’Higgins National Park, an extremely remote landscape of mountains, channels and temperate rainforest.

A common mix-up is Viedma Glacier, which is the largest glacier in Argentina’s Los Glaciares National Park, while Perito Moreno is the best-known for its dramatic calving events. Upsala is also enormous, but its area is smaller than Pío XI’s.