Satellite image of Lago Greve , Chile, and surrounding landmarks. The area which turned from lake to land surface from 8 April to 1st November 2020 is highlighted in yellow. Areas highlighted in orange and cyan indicate the advance and retreat of glacier-calving fronts during the same period. The red box indicates the location of the lake outlet. Credit: Shuntaro Hata, Shin Sugiyama, Kosuke Heki,The massive proglacial lake drainage in remote Patagonia was captured by satellites.
Proglacial lakes are created when meltwater from retreating glaciers is held in place by ice or a moraine that was left behind by the same or another glacier. A warmer climate contributes to the recent worldwide rise in the number and volume of these lakes, and they also contribute to glaciers melting more quickly.
The lake area and lake level dropped precipitously within the span of 4 months in 2020. Credit: Shuntaro Hata, Shin Sugiyama, Kosuke Heki,While researching glacier fluctuations in Chilean Patagonia using satellite pictures, Shin Sugiyama ofand doctoral student Shuntaro Hata discovered that the proglacial lake Lago Greve had significantly shrunk between April and July of 2020.
Shuntaro Hata and Shin Sugiyama , authors of the study, with Matthias Scheiter and Rodrigo Traub . Credit: Shin Sugiyama.