A 70-year chronicle of the evolution of Echaurren Norte Glacier, Central Andes of Chile

The Echaurren Norte Glacier mass balance time series is the longest in the Southern Hemisphere, thus it is -together with the Zongo Glacier in Bolivia-a reference glacier by the World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS).The Echaurren Norte Glacier constitutes a reference case of glacier degradation and transition in the Central Andes of Chile, exemplifying the full spectrum of contemporary glacier evolution processes: frontal retreat, surface thinning, progressive debris cover and fragmentation.An analysis of satellite imagery from 1955 to 2023 reveals a ~65% reduction in glacier area, accompanied by an expansion of supraglacial debris.Today, no clean ice is visible at the surface, and the glacier persists as three fully debris-covered units with a combined area of only 0.18 km.These transformations indicate a shift from an active mountain glacier toward a debris-covered glacieret, characterized by negligible ice flow