Climate’s firm grip on glacier ablation in the Cordillera Darwin Icefield, Tierra del Fuego
The Cordillera Darwin Icefield (CDI) in Tierra del Fuego is one of the largest temperate ice bodies in the Southern Hemisphere. We simulate the climatic energy and mass balance of its glaciers (2000-2023), which are sensitive indicators of climatic changes in the Southern Hemisphere's higher mid-latitudes. Year-round westerly winds cause strong climatic gradients across the mountain range, reflected in the energy and mass fluxes. Our results reveal a significant increase in surface melt (+0.18 m w.e. yr<sup>-1</sup> per decade) over the past two decades. We also present the first estimate of dynamically controlled mass loss into adjacent fjords and lakes by frontal ablation, amounting to 1.44 ± 0.94 Gt yr<sup>-1</sup> (26 % of the total CDI mass loss). Frontal losses are mainly channelized through few marine-terminating glaciers. While frontal ablation is important for predicting the fate of individual glaciers, for the CDI as a whole, atmospheric conditions exert the main control on the current glacier evolution.
Authors
- Marius Schaefer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7508-8786)
- Inti González
- Franziska Temme (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4713-5493)
- Ricardo Giesecke (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8805-6089)
- Dieter Tetzner (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7659-8799)
- Jorge Arigony‐Neto (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4848-2064)
- Eñaut Izagirre (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8502-7824)
- Johannes J. Fürst (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3988-5849)
- Ricardo Jaña (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3319-1168)
- Christian Sommer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6641-0681)
Institutions
- Universidade Federal do Rio Grande (BR)
- British Antarctic Survey (GB)
- Austral University of Chile (CL)
- University of the Basque Country (ES)
- Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (DE)
- Center for Dynamic Research on High Latitude Marine Ecosystems (CL)
- Basque Centre for Climate Change (ES)
- Instituto Antártico Chileno (CL)
- Universidad de Magallanes (CL)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2025-03-18
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-57698-6
- Citations
- 3
- Primary Topic
- Cryospheric studies and observations
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 5.20
Funders
- European Commission
- Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt
- Eusko Jaurlaritza
- Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea
- Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico
- Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul
- Institut chilien de l'Antarctique
- Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo