What is the name of the vast ice field covering parts of the Andes in southern Patagonia?
Answer
Southern Patagonian Ice Field
The vast ice field covering parts of the Andes in southern Patagonia is the Southern Patagonian Ice Field.
This immense ice mass stretches along the Southern Patagonian Andes across Chile and Argentina. It covers roughly 16,500 to 16,800 square kilometers and is the world’s second-largest contiguous extrapolar ice field, after the Kluane–Wrangell–St. Elias–Glacier Bay complex in Alaska and northwestern Canada.
The ice field is a remnant of the much larger Patagonian Ice Sheet that covered southern Chile during the last glacial period. Today it feeds dozens of glaciers, including Pío XI, Viedma, Upsala, Grey and Perito Moreno. West-flowing ice reaches Pacific fjords, while eastern glaciers drain toward major Patagonian lakes.
The Northern Patagonian Ice Field is a separate, smaller ice mass farther north. “Patagonian Ice Sheet” refers mainly to the ancient glacial cover, not the modern ice field, making those options common sources of confusion.