South America's Glaciers 

Glaciers in South America develop exclusively in the Andes and are subject to the Andes's various climatic patterns namely the Tropical Andes, Dry Andes, and the Wet Andes. Apart from this, there is a wide range of altitudes on which glaciers develop from 5000 m in the Altiplano mountains and volcanoes to sea level as the tidewater glaciers from San Rafael Lagoon (45° S) and southwards. South America hosts two large ice fields, the Northern and Southern Patagonian Ice Fields, of which the second is the largest contiguous body of glaciers in extrapolar regions. About 80% of South America's glaciers lie in Chile.

Photographed in 1993