Grande del nevado del Plomo glacier surge

FERRI HIDALGO, LIDIA; ESPIZUA, L. E.; PITTE, P.

Fluctuations of glaciers 2005-2010 (vol. X)

WGMS

Año: 2012; p. 49 - 50

The Grande del Nevado glacier had a new surge event during 2007. Between the satellite images of 25 September 2006 and 20 March 2007, after 23 years of a quiescent phase, the glacier started to move and advanced 400 m. In the autumn of 2007 it flowed down the valley about 600 m in 16 days, with a maximum velocity of 34 m d-1. Between 23 May 2007 and 28 September 2007, there were no satellite images available for monitoring the glacier due to the presence of clouds and snow, but the main advance occurred during this period. The glacier moved 1.8 km, reaching the outcrop named Roca Pulida, and its front broadened around it. The difference between this new surge event and those occurring in 1934 and 1984 (cf. Helbling 1935, Espizua 1986, Espizua and Bengochea 1990) is that in this case an ice-dammed lake was not formed upstream of the glacier front. Nowadays the Plomo river flows through a subglacial tunnel of the Grande del Nevado glacier front. The total volume of displaced ice and debris during the whole event is estimated to be about 83 x 106 m3. Information on earlier surge events of this glacier can be found in Helbling (1935), Espizua (1986), Espizua and Bengochea (1990), and WGMS (1993).