An epic glacier collapse was caught on video recently. Amateur photographer Christian Grosso happened to be in the right place at the right time with his camera, but he wasn't expecting an enormous chuck of a glacier to fall and cause a huge wave in Argentina's Patagonia region. Grosso got to see the event firsthand while another visitor caught it on video to share with the world.
The Perito Moreno glacier in Patagonia is one of the largest in the region. This glacier is unique as it cuts off Lake Argentino from Brazo Rico by forming a dam which prevents water transferring from two bodies of water.
"This glacier is somewhat unique in that its path takes it across an arm of a large lake," NASA scientist Jim Foster said, according to NBC. Foster featured Grosso's photo in Earth Science Picture of the Day. "Most glaciers don't have such trajectories, so bridging and tunneling, at least at this scale, is rather rare."
To see Grosso's photo of the epic glacier collapse, Click Here.
The event occurred on the evening of January 19. About 20 or 30 people got to see the epic glacier collapse take place along with Grosso.
While the collapse seemed epic, this rupture was relatively small. Brazo Rico's water levels reach about 98 feet higher than the waters of Lake Argentino every four or five years. When this occurs, the glacier cannot withstand the stress and the result is a catastrophic rupture of the glacier.
The last time this occurred was in March 2012. The collapse that Grosso witnessed was an after effect of the 2012 collapse. This collapse happened when a leftover ice bridge melted which had formed when the 2012 collapse hollowed out a large hole in the glacier.
To see a video of the epic glacier collapse, check out the video below:
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