Eyes in the ice and Ojos del Salado volcano Chile

by James Brunker

Title

Eyes in the ice and Ojos del Salado volcano Chile

Artist

James Brunker

Medium

Photograph - Photograph

Description

A wonderful natural ice sculpture that looks just like a ghostly face in a small snowfield on the flanks of the Ojos del Salado volcano, which is in the background. At 6893m / 22,615ft it is the world's highest volcano and the 2nd highest peak in the Andes Mountains and Americas. The name "Ojos del Salado" means "Eyes of Salt" or "Salty Eyes" in Spanish; there are salt deposits on the volcano and the Polish expedition that first climbed it on February 26, 1937 followed a river of the same name during part of their approach to the mountain. The volcano lies in a remote region on the Chile Argentina border in the Puna de Atacama, a vast high altitude volcanic desert plateau in the central Andes shared by Chile and Argentina.

Snowfields in the region are often full of penitentes or snow / ice spikes and other, sometimes unusual, shapes and formations. The penitentes are formed by process of differential ablation - a combination of a dew point that is below freezing and the very dry conditions and high solar radiation levels means that the snow can sublimate (go straight from a solid to gaseous state without forming a liquid). Hollows and cracks (which are darker) absorb much more solar radiation and expand quickly downwards between the spikes, which lose mass much more slowly. Winds can also help erode the icy spikes into some beautiful formations. Most of the very limited fresh water in the Puna comes from snowfalls and compacted snowfields; the region has historically been so arid that there are very few glaciers and little evidence of glaciation in the past.

Photograph © James Brunker. Reproduction, publication, transmission or use in any form without written permission prohibited.

Uploaded

August 15th, 2023

Colors

Embed

Share

Tags