The Patagonian Icefields

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxvii

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2. Biology

   1. Glacier Ecosystem and Biological ICE-Core Analysis

      • Shiro Kohshima, Yoshitaka Yoshimura, Nozomu Takeuchi

      Pages 1-8

   2. Isolation and Identification of Bacteria from Ancient and Modern Ice Cores

      • Brent C. Christner, Ellen Mosley-Thompson, Lonnie G. Thompson, Victor Zagorodnov, John N. Reeve

      Pages 9-15

   3. Perspectives for DNA Studies on Polar Ice Cores

      • Anders J. Hansen, Eske Willerslev

      Pages 17-27

3. Climate and Paleoclimate

   1. Meteorological and Climatological Aspects of the Southern Patagonia Icefield

      • Jorge F. Carrasco, Gino Casassa, Andrés Rivera

      Pages 29-41

   2. Western Patagonia: A Key Area for Understanding Quaternary Paleoclimate at Southern Mid-Latitudes

      • Patricio I. Moreno

      Pages 43-54

   3. Late Pleistocene and Holocene Glacier Fluctuations in the Mendoza Andes, Argentina

      • Lydia E. Espizua

      Pages 55-65

4. Glaciology

   1. Current Knowledge of the Southern Patagonia Icefield

      • Gino Casassa, Andrés Rivera, Masamu Aniya, Renji Naruse

      Pages 67-83

   2. The Southern Patagonia Icefield Mass Balance

      • Juan Carlos Leiva

      Pages 85-87

   3. Glacier Mass Balance and Climate in the South American Andes

      • Georg Kaser

      Pages 89-99

   4. Ice Thickness Measurements on the Southern Patagonia Icefield

      • Andrés Rivera, Gino Casassa

      Pages 101-115

5. Ice Coring

   1. Locating a Drilling Site on the Patagonian Icefields

      • Niels Gundestrup

      Pages 117-124

   2. On the Potential to Retrieve Climatic and Environmental Information from Ice-Core Sites Suffering Periodical Melt, with Specific Assessment of the Southern Patagonia Icefield

      • Veijo Pohjola

      Pages 125-138

   3. Argentine Program on Climatic and Environmental Studies by Means of Ice Cores

      • Alberto J. Aristarain

      Pages 139-147

   4. Firn-Core Drilling Operation at Tyndall Glacier, Southern Patagonia Icefield

      • María Angélica Godoi, Takayuki Shiraiwa, Shiro Kohshima, Keiji Kubota

      Pages 149-156

   5. First Results of a Paleoatmospheric Chemistry and Climate Study of Cerro Tapado Glacier, Chile

      • Patrick Ginot, Margit Schwikowski, Heinz W. Gäggeler, Ulrich Schotterer, Christoph Kull, Martin Funk et al.

      Pages 157-167

   6. Interpreting Climate Signals from a Shallow Equatorial Core: Antisana, Ecuador

      • Mark W. Williams, Bernard Francou, Eran Hood, Bruce Vaughn

      Pages 169-175

   7. Potential Application of Methodologies for Studying Atmospheric Aerosols, in the Study of Climatic and Environmental Information from Ice Cores

      • Margarita Préndez

      Pages 177-187

6. Back Matter

   Pages 189-193

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The majesty of the icefields is beyond description. He who has been fortunate to be there once, remains bound forever. To a theoretical physicist working on black holes the icefields produce a familiar vertigo, the instinctive certainty of being confronted with something so simple and beautifully extreme that it must be of importance. The meeting whose proceedings are contained in this volume was conducted onboard of a vessel that went to the icefields, and the participants could literally set foot on them. It was expected that, for those who had not been there before, this would constitute a ritual of initiation. And so it did. For this reason we like to refer to the meeting as an expedition because, although it did not have the hardship, it had the spirit. After this foundational expedition there have been two others, this time both with spirit and hardship, one from Chile and one from Argentina. At the moment of this writing, a fourth, full-fledged airborne expedition to the icefields is about to depart from Valdivia. Many of the people of many nations who were on board of the Aquiles will take part in it. We look forward to its results, and to an ongoing exciting scientific adventure. Claudio Teitelboim Director, Centro de Estudios Cientfficos Valdivia, September 2001 v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This volume is the result of the effort and generosity of many people and institutions.

• Aerosol
• Paleoclimatology
• atmospheric chemistry
• bacteria
• climate
• climatology
• ecosystem
• environment
• microbiology
• paleoclimate
• hydrogeology

• Centro de Estudios Científicos (CECS), Valdivia, Chile

  Gino Casassa, Francisco V. Sepúlveda

• Chevy Chase, USA

  Rolf M. Sinclair

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