Greenwire: Mountain climbers will have to climb a bit higher in the coming decades to reach the summit of the Patagonia mountains in South America, researchers reported in a new study.
In recent years the mountains, located in the southernmost region of South America, have sprung up as the weight of glaciers melted away, they said.
GPS-based measurements indicate that between 2003 and 2006, the Patagonia mountains grew at a rate of 1.5 inches per year, found a team of researchers led by Reinhard Dietrich of Institut für Planetare Geodäsie, Technische Universität Dresden, Germany. Their findings are reported in the latest issue of the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters.
“Before I saw this article, I would have said the highest rate [of mountain growth] was at Glacier Bay, Alaska,” said Bruce Molnia, a veteran glacier researcher and geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey. In 2005, similar measurements at Glacier Bay found the mountains there rising at a rate of 1.3 inches per year.
According to their estimates, 30 years from now, the most famous peaks of Patagonia — like Mount Fitzroy — will be about 3.3 feet higher (Larry O’Hanlon, MSNBC/Discovery News, Jan. 27). – DFM