More ice was falling than anyone could actually see.
En la frontera patagónica que comparten Chile y Argentina, un equipo de investigadores logró escuchar lo que los ojos no pueden ver: el desprendimiento silencioso y constante de un glaciar que se deshace. Durante seis semanas de 2018, sensores sísmicos, cámaras y satélites registraron más de 1.200 eventos de desprendimiento en el glaciar Perito Moreno, revelando que la pérdida de hielo ocurre con una velocidad y frecuencia que los métodos tradicionales de observación jamás habrían podido capturar. Este hallazgo no es solo un avance técnico: es un recordatorio de que la crisis climática se desarrolla a una escala que supera nuestra percepción cotidiana, y que comprender su verdadera magnitud exige nuevas formas de escuchar al planeta.
- El glaciar Perito Moreno perdió más de 1.200 fragmentos de hielo en apenas seis semanas, una cifra que desafía todo lo que la observación visual había sugerido hasta ahora.
- Los métodos tradicionales —dependientes de cielos despejados, luz diurna y buena visibilidad— dejaban en la oscuridad la mayor parte de lo que realmente ocurre en el frente glaciar.
- La integración de sensores sísmicos, cámaras de lapso de tiempo e imágenes satelitales permitió detectar patrones ocultos: los desprendimientos no son aleatorios, sino que se concentran en zonas de mayor deformación y velocidad del flujo.
- Los sensores sísmicos operan sin interrupción ante tormentas, oscuridad o aislamiento extremo, abriendo la posibilidad de un monitoreo glaciar continuo y en tiempo casi real.
- Chile se posiciona como pionero regional en el uso de herramientas sísmicas para evaluar el impacto del cambio climático sobre los recursos hídricos del hemisferio sur.
En la Patagonia compartida por Chile y Argentina, un equipo de investigadores pasó seis semanas a finales de 2018 escuchando desmoronarse al glaciar Perito Moreno. No con los oídos, sino con sensores sísmicos enterrados en la tierra. Lo que descubrieron fue inquietante: más de 1.200 eventos de desprendimiento de hielo en ese breve período, una cifra muy superior a lo que cualquier método de observación convencional habría podido revelar.
El estudio fue liderado por equipos de la Universidad Católica de Chile y la Universidad de Magallanes, con colaboración de instituciones en tres continentes, entre ellas la Universidad de Washington en St. Louis, la Universidad de Chile, la Universidad de Concepción y la Universidad de Hokkaido en Japón. Al integrar los datos sísmicos con imágenes satelitales y cámaras de lapso de tiempo, emergió un patrón antes invisible: los desprendimientos no ocurren al azar, sino que se concentran en las zonas donde el glaciar sufre mayores deformaciones y donde el hielo fluye con más velocidad.
El seismólogo Leoncio Cabrera explicó la clave del avance: no fue ninguna herramienta en particular, sino su combinación. Las cámaras ópticas y los satélites dependen del clima y la luz; los sensores sísmicos, en cambio, funcionan sin pausa en medio de tormentas, de noche, en condiciones de visibilidad nula o en lugares de difícil acceso. Traducen el colapso físico del hielo en señales medibles, con una resolución temporal que ningún método anterior podía ofrecer.
Publicado este mes en el Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, el estudio posiciona a Chile como pionero regional en el monitoreo sísmico de glaciares. Lo que el Perito Moreno reveló en esas seis semanas es que la crisis climática avanza más rápido, y en más lugares, de lo que éramos capaces de medir. Ahora, al menos, existen las herramientas para verlo.
In the austere landscape where Chile and Argentina share the Patagonia frontier, researchers spent six weeks in late 2018 watching a glacier die in ways the human eye could never fully perceive. What they found was startling: the Perito Moreno glacier shed more than 1,200 chunks of ice during that brief window—far more than traditional observation methods would have revealed. The discovery came from an unlikely combination of tools: seismic sensors buried in the earth, time-lapse cameras trained on the ice face, and satellite imagery feeding data back to laboratories. The result was a study that changed how scientists understand glacial collapse.
The research was led by teams from Chile's Catholic University and the University of Magallanes, working in collaboration with institutions across three continents. Seismic data came from Washington University in St. Louis. The University of Chile, the University of Concepción, and Hokkaido University in Japan all contributed observations during the same period—November 24 through December 31, 2018. When the researchers integrated all these streams of information, a pattern emerged that had been invisible before: the ice was not calving randomly. The fractures concentrated in specific zones where the glacier's deformations were greatest and where the ice flowed fastest. These were the weak points, the places where the structure could no longer hold.
Leoncio Cabrera, a seismologist at the Catholic University, explained the significance plainly: they could monitor how the glacier was melting over those six weeks and understand that far more ice was falling than anyone could actually see. The innovation lay not in any single tool but in the marriage of them. Satellite images and optical cameras had limits—they depended on clear skies, daylight, and good visibility. Seismic sensors worked continuously, indifferent to weather, darkness, or the isolation of the site. They could detect the vibrations of ice breaking and falling, translating physical collapse into measurable signals.
The findings were published this month in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, a peer-reviewed American journal. The paper emphasized that the combination of technologies allowed researchers to observe processes occurring almost in real time, with temporal resolution far exceeding what traditional methods could offer. A geophysicist involved in the work noted that seismic sensors function without interruption even during storms, at night, in zero visibility, or in places so remote that other instruments simply fail.
The study positions Chile as a regional pioneer in using seismic tools to analyze glaciers—a distinction that carries weight as climate change accelerates ice loss across the southern hemisphere. The research opens new lines of inquiry in seismology and environmental monitoring, fields that are becoming essential to understanding how warming affects the cryosphere and the water resources that depend on it. What the Perito Moreno glacier revealed in those six weeks is that the crisis is happening faster, and in more places, than we could previously measure. The tools now exist to see it.
Citações Notáveis
We could monitor how the glacier was melting and understand that far more ice was falling than anyone could see.— Leoncio Cabrera, seismologist, Catholic University of Chile
Seismic sensors can function continuously, even during storms, at night, with zero visibility, or in extremely isolated places.— Geophysicist involved in the research
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why does it matter that they found 1,200 calving events instead of, say, 300 or 500? What changes?
It changes the baseline. If you can only see what's visible—the big collapses, the dramatic moments—you're missing the constant, grinding loss. Those 1,200 events are mostly small. But small and frequent means the glacier is losing mass at a rate that was previously invisible.
So the seismic sensors are basically listening to the glacier break apart?
Exactly. Every fracture, every piece that falls, sends a vibration through the ice and into the earth. The sensors hear it. A camera can't see at night or through a storm. A seismic sensor doesn't care.
The study found that calving isn't random—it happens in specific zones. Why is that important?
Because it means the glacier has weak points, places where the structure is failing faster than others. If you know where those zones are, you can predict where the next major collapse is likely to happen. You can understand the glacier's trajectory.
Does this change how we think about glacial retreat in general?
It suggests we've been underestimating it. If Perito Moreno is losing ice faster than we thought, other glaciers probably are too. And if we can now measure it continuously, we can start to see patterns we've never seen before.
What's the practical application? Does this help save the glacier?
No. But it helps us understand what we're losing and how fast. That knowledge is the foundation for everything else—water management, climate policy, resource planning. You can't address a crisis you can't measure.